In Buffalo, Dylan Cozens hit for a pair of shorthanded goals on Saturday to help the Sabres rout the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, 7-2.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 22 saves in the win.
The Sabres improved to 29-28-4 who moved to 7-3-0 in their last 10.
The Sabres took a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza on a marker form Jeff Skinner at 1:55.
Cozens potted his first shortie of the game with 54 seconds gone in the middle frame to push the lead to 2-0 for Buffalo..
Vegas replied with a power play goal from Brendan Brisson at 1:46 of the second to trim the deficit to 2-1.
William Karlsson scored form the right side at 4:28 for the second to tie the game, 2-2..
“It was a close game and a very winnable game,” the Golden Knights’ Brayden McNabb said. “We lay an egg in the third and that’s what we get.”
The Sabres reclaimed the lad, for good, when Zemgus Girgensons scored at 14:46 for a 3-2 lad heeded to the thud period.
“We saw the game plan was working for us in the first period and a bit, so there wasn’t need to panic,” Buffalo’s Kyle Okposo said. “… We just have to make sure we have faith in the way that we know how to play, and we were playing tonight. There was nothing wrong with how we were playing, and we just wanted to make sure we continued that. It was definitely a mature response.”
The Golden Knights dropped to 33-21-7.
“How do we rebound? We need the healthy group of our lineup, which is our [defense] corps that is the strength of our team, to play better,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “To execute better and to lead this team. Goaltenders are healthy, they need to play better and lead this team. That’s where it should start, that area back. Those are the guys that are healthy. We’ll piece together some forward lines hopefully to get enough offense, but we’ve got to stay in the game and be better back there.”
In the third, Okposo pushed the Buffalo lead to 4-2 on a marker at 2:20.
Owen Power launched a shot form the blue line at 6:26 that found its way in for a 5-2 lead.
Casey Mittelstadt added to the Vegas woes with a strike at 12:18 for a 6-2 advantage..
“They were just outcompeting us and I think, honestly, a lot of self-inflicted errors again tonight,” Cassidy said. “It’s been a costly road trip for that, in terms of us not managing the puck well on the offensive blue line. … That’s, to me, what happened a little bit and it snowballed from there. Buffalo had lots of life and took advantage.”
Cozens sealed the 7-2 win with his second shorthanded goal at 17:12.
“It’s definitely been a struggle for me this year in the goal-scoring department,” Cozens said. “I feel like I couldn’t get any bounces, so to get a few today, it feels good. Hopefully it can be the start of getting the scoring touch back.”
Logan Thompson made 28 saves in the loss.
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