The Buffalo Sabres and St. Louis Blues played against each other for the final matchup of the season series in St. Louis. The Sabres are coming off two straight wins in their last two games, while the Blues won their last game against the Detroit Red Wings 4-0. In the previous game, the Sabres won 4-3 in overtime on Nov. 14. For the Sabres, this was a game to sweep the season series, as for the Blues, it was an opportunity to even things at home, but they were not able to avoid the sweep as they fell 4-2.
Game Recap
First Period
In the first period, the Blues were quick to go on the attack and make a statement by being the more offensively dominant team for the game’s first five minutes. However, the Sabres were showing results with the little attack they had as Peyton Krebs got to the front of the net and tipped a shot from Bowen Byram past Jordan Binnington at a timestamp of 6:52 to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead. Rasmus Dahlin earned the secondary assist.
Later, about six minutes after the first goal, while the Sabres were on the power play, Jason Zucker (primary assist) sprinted down the left wing after receiving a pass from Jack Quinn (secondary assist) and dished the puck to Tage Thompson, who shot it for the goal to increase the lead to 2-0.
The Blues did not give up in the first as they clapped back with a goal from captain Brayden Schenn after Colton Parayko slung a shot to the front of the net, which lightly squeaked through Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for Schenn to finish it off. Jake Neighbours was credited with the secondary assist from his pass to Parayko. Shots for the period were 15-6 Blues.
Second Period
Nothing much happened in the second period, as neither team could score. The Blues had the period’s only two power play opportunities but could not capitalize on them. Shots were again in the Blues’ favor for the period at 11-6.
Third Period
Opening up the third period, at 5:56, Blues forward Alexei Toropchenko (secondary assist) crashed to the front of the net as the puck rebounded to Parayko (primary assist), who was denied as Nathan Walker tapped in the rebound for a 2-2 tie. The Sabres reciprocated on the power play at the 10:30 mark as Thompson passed the puck to Jack Quinn, who sauced it to Zucker, who scored and returned the lead to the Sabres at 3-2.
Then, at 16:19, Mattias Samuelsson fought for the puck and passed to Zach Benson, who tapped it to Jiri Kulich as he bounced it off the boards to create a small breakaway and snipe it past Binnington from the left angle to make it 4-2 Sabres. Final shots for the period were 11-6 Blues, and the total shots for the game were 37-16 Blues.
Three Stars
- Jason Zucker (one goal, one assist)
- Tage Thompson (one point, one assist)
- Colton Parayko (two assists)
This victory for the Sabres ends the season series with the Blues at 2-0-0, and they will now focus on their next game against the Dallas Stars on Dec. 31. The Blues will have to rally their way to a win in their upcoming Winter Classic game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 1.
