Jack Quinn scored twice and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 35 saves to help the visiting Buffalo Sabres to a 4-0 win against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.
The shutout is Luukkonen’s second of the season and seventh of his NHL career.
Ryan McLeod had a goal and two assists for the Sabres, who are 5-2-1 since a 13-game losing streak (0-10-3).
Anton Forsberg made 17 saves for the Senators, who have lost six of seven (1-5-1) after an 8-1-0 run.
After taking a penalty to negate a Buffalo power play, Quinn made up for it a few minutes later to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at 10:17 of the first period. Zach Benson sent a short pass up in the neutral zone for McLeod, and McLeod fed it over to Quinn, who fired a wrist shot that beat Forsberg far side.
He atoned for yet another penalty to make it 2-0 at 13:17. McLeod blocked Thomas Chabot’s shot from the blue line and Peyton Krebs collected the loose puck and sprung Quinn, fresh out of the box, for a breakaway and scoring bar down from the slot.
Shortly after Luukkonen denied Ottawa off a Sabres turnover, Dylan Cozens capitalized on one by the Senators to extend it to 3-0 at 4:11 of the second period. Shane Pinto blocked Tage Thompson’s shot from high in the zone, and Nick Jensen collected the loose puck along the wall for a clear. But Cozens intercepted it and wired a wrister from the inner side of the right circle past Forsberg stick side.
A lucky bounce pushed Buffalo’s advantage to 4-0 at 10:22. McLeod took a pass from Rasmus Dahlin and carried it into the zone before stopping by the right wall, eyeing a pass for an on-rushing Benson. But his pass hit Chabot’s skate and deflected blocker side past Forsberg.
Dahlin’s assist was the 250th of his NHL career in his 470th game to become the fifth-fastest Swedish defenseman to reach the mark behind Borje Salming (403), Stefan Persson (425), Erik Karlsson (433) and John Klingberg (457).
–Field Level Media
