Tage Thompson had a goal and two assists as the visiting Buffalo Sabres defeated the St. Louis Blues 5-3 Tuesday night for their fourth straight victory.
Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch had a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who improved to 11-2-1 in their last 14 road games. Owen Power and Dylan Cozens also scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves.
Ivan Barbashev, Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou scored for the Blues, who took their second straight loss. Justin Faulk and Torey Krug had two assists apiece, and Jordan Binnington made 26 saves.
The Blues finished their seven-game homestand with a 3-4-0 mark.
Skinner and Tuch scored 25 seconds apart during the first 1:25 of the game to give Buffalo a quick 2-0 lead.
After the Blues turned the puck over in their zone, Thompson set up Skinner for his goal from the slot. Then Tuch converted Skinner’s pass from behind the net into another goal from the slot.
The Sabres made it 3-0 with 10:53 left in the period off a sustained offensive zone possession. Power cut to the net from the left point to score off JJ Peterka’s cross-ice pass.
Buffalo pushed the lead to 4-0 just 70 seconds into the second period with a three-on-two rush. Thompson took a drop pass from Tuch and scored on a slick move to his backhand.
Barbashev put the Blues on the board with a spinning backhand shot from the slot off Krug’s pass. Scoring from the high slot off the rush, Schenn cut Buffalo’s lead to 4-2 at the 7:56 mark of the second period.
Kyrou scored from the slot off Brandon Saad’s pass 47 seconds into the third period, cutting Buffalo’s lead to 4-3.
Cozens iced the game with a short-handed, empty-net goal with one minute to play.
–Field Level Media
