*Photo from Spectrum News*
It was the downtrodden that came out over the newly minted. Casey Middelstadt had two goals and an assist, Zach Benson had a goal and an assist, and the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 on Friday night.
The Sabres knocked off the defending champions as they look to end the NHL's longest active playoff drought, having last made the playoffs in 2010-2011. Benson and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist while Dylan Cozens had a goal and two assists to go with Middelstadt's 3 point game.
Buffalo head coach Don Granato said of the win "That was a great effort all around. We looked fresh. We looked rested. We took advantage of that. We had great legs all the way through. We had to come back in the third, tied 1-1. We fall down 2-1 and the response was outstanding."
After a scoreless first period, it was the Sabres who scored first. Cozens scored his 5th goal of the season 7:42 into the second period to make it 1-0, with the lone assist to Middelstadt. Ivan Barbashev scored to make it 1-1 after two periods before Jack Eichel lit the lamp 3:22 into the 3rd period to put the Golden Knights ahead 2-1.
Middelstadt scored his 7th goal of the season with assists from Cozens and Connor Clifton to make it 2-2. Benson then put the Sabres ahead 3-2 with his 4th goal of the season, assisted by Tuch and Mattias Samuelsson. Tuch scored his 9th goal of the season to make it 4-2 Sabres before Middelstadt made it 5-2 on an empty net goal.
Cozens said after the game that "It was a big challenge tonight going against the defending cup champs. We talked about it before that it was going to be a man's game. And I think we did a lot of things good tonight, we played kind of a full 60. We didn't make too many mistakes and we capitalized on our chances."
Getting the start for the Sabres was rookie Devon Levi, who rallied for the win as his record bumped up to 6-4-2 in 12 starts. Levi stopped 33 of the 35 shots the Golden Knights sent his way, giving him a .943 save percentage.
The starter for Vegas opposite Levi was Logan Thompson, who couldn't hold off the Sabres and dropped to 9-4-3 in 16 starts. Thompson turned aside 22 out of the 26 shots on goal that Buffalo had, good for a .846 save percentage.
Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy said "We played losing hockey, and what do we do? We lost. So there's a little bit of a lesson to be learned there. We don't lose a lot, but we lost tonight because of I think much more our actions. I'll give Buffalo credit for doing what they do best when we messed up, which was you know, create offensive and good looks and they finished."
The Sabres take on the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday to finish a back to back, with Eric Comrie set to get the start. The Golden Knights host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night, with Thompson slated to start.
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