*Photo from Yahoo News*
They're finding ways to get the job done lately. Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist, JJ Peterka had an identical line, and the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Minnesota Wild with a 3-2 victory on Friday night in Buffalo.
With the win, the Sabres improved to 4-1-1 in their last 6 games, 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, and 7-6-1 on the season. They dealt the Wild their 6th loss in 8 games and 7th in 10 as Skinner and Peterka were the multi point scorers for the Sabres.
Sabres head coach Don Granato said that "Hopefully, finding a way to win is going to become a typical way, because we needed to find a way to win tonight. I thought specifically in the third period, the determination elevated, you saw it down the stretch. And Devon played very well obviously, to do that, that’s what good goaltenders do and good goaltending does, and it worked out. I thought it was, in the end, a heck of a gut check for our guys, and they pushed through."
It was the Sabres who got on the board first in the game. Henri Jokiharju gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at the 18:02 mark of the first period, scoring his second goal of the season. 1:28 later and with the Wild on the power play, Kirill Kaprizov converted on a chance, tying the game 1-1 with assists from Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello.
The only goal of the second period came from Skinner, giving the Sabres a 2-1 lead at the end of two periods, assisted by Peterka. In the 3rd period, Peterka made the lead 3-1 with his 6th goal of the season, with assists going to Skinner and Tage Thompson. Joel Eriksson Ek scored on the power play for the Wild to make it 3-2, but the Sabres held on from there.
After the game, Thompson said that "I think there’s just a lot of calm in our game. Regardless of the score, there’s no real panic, frustration. I thought tonight was a perfect example of that. Obviously, 3-2 with a few minutes left in the game, I thought we were pretty rock-solid in the zone, no running around."
Getting the start in net for the Sabres was rookie Devon Levi, who backstopped them to a win as his record improved to an even 3-3-0 in 6 starts. Levi made 33 saves on 35 Wild shots that he was tested with, good for a sturdy .943 save percentage.
It was Filip Gustavsson who was the starting netminder for the Wild opposite Levi. Gustavsson turned aside 22 out of the 25 shots on goal the Sabres sent at him, recording a .880 save percentage. His record is now 2-4-1 in 8 starts.
Wild captain Jared Spurgeon said of the loss that "We're used to tight games. But when you're getting those chances and not putting them home, you have to make sure you're squeaky clean on the other end. Something we’ve got to clean up, but the effort that we had in the offensive zone, I thought we created chances, but we’ve just got to get those looks and make them count."
The Sabres take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday as they wrap up the second half of a back to back, with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to get the start. The Wild host the Dallas Stars on Sunday, with Gustavsson listed as the projected starter.
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