Sabres drop Vegas, 3-1

In Buffalo, Craig Anderson made 29 saves in a 3-1 win for the Sabres over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.

“It’s a great moment to take in and just enjoy it,” Anderson said. “You just don’t know how the game is going to go. You don’t know how the night [is going to go or] what the future holds, but you try to stay in the moment as best you can and take it all in. …

“It’s a good memory, it’s a good moment. I think the way the game played out, I think it was a memorable one. So, you know, you just kind of keep ticking the boxes and keep pushing forward and staying hungry is the key. Stay hungry for the next one.”

The win was Anderson’s 300th NHL victory.

Victor Olofsson scored in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie and give the Sabres sa 2-1 lead that Anderson would protect.

Ben Hutton hit for the Golden Knights’ only goal, his strike tied the game, 1-1, in the third period.

“I didn’t get a chance to talk to the guys, but I’m disappointed,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. “We know we’ve got to win games. Having said that, we could’ve won in Philly (a 2-1 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday), we could’ve won here tonight. So we have to keep showing up, playing good hockey and find a way to win.”

Buffalo moved to 19-32-8.

Peyton Krebs scored to give Buffalo an early 1-0 lead.

“Me and ‘Tuchy’, we’re passionate about playing here in Buffalo,” Krebs said. “We want to do the best we can for this organization. And that felt good giving [Anderson] a hug. It’s just exciting, I think, for sure. Obviously, it’s just one hockey game. They’re a good team too. But that was nice.”

Alex Tuch added an empty-net goal to ice the win at 3-1.

“I think our team showed a lot of maturity tonight,” Tuch said. “We were up 1-0 going into the third, they put a lot of pressure on us late in the second period and we didn’t back down, we didn’t give them too many crazy chances. ‘Andy’ obviously made some really big saves, so much poise in the net there, gives the guys a lot of confidence in front of him. … Just shows the character and the maturity that’s starting to come with our team. I think that was a huge win. Especially obviously it was against my old team, felt really good, but it showed a lot of character and maturity.”

Vegas dropped to 32-23-4.

Laurent Brossoit made 21 saves in the Vegas loss.