NHL Update: St Louis Blues outlasted Buffalo Sabres, 3-0
Ty Conklin recorded his second shutout of the season, turning away 25 shots and St Louis Blues posted a 3-0 victory against Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.
David Backes and Vladimir Sobotka both lit the lamp for St Louis, which has registered seven victories in its previous 10 play-offs in Buffalo and improved to 4-1-2. Conklin posted his 16th
career shutout. T.J. Oshie had another goal for the victors.
"I thought the most important part of his game was getting the whistles," St Louis Coach Davis Payne said. "He recognized the opportunities to stop the momentum of the play in the zone."
Ryan Miller stopped 21 shots for Buffalo, which has dropped back-to-back games for the first time since December 23 and 27 against Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames. Sabres have also lost
three consecutive games at HSBC Arena.
Conklin made seven saves and Miller stopped nine shots in a goalless opening stanza.
However, Oshie got the scoring started almost three minutes into the middle session when he converted Patrik Berglund’s centring pass into the slot. The goal came when Berglund, positioned
near the right post, let go a shot that was saved. He grabbed the puck back again to find Oshie cruising through the middle. Oshie then deposited the loose puck into the net.
Buffalo defenseman Mike Weber went off for tripping late in the middle frame and St Louis took advantage on a power play for 2-0 lead with nearly 1 ½ minutes left in the period.
It happened so when Backes' one-timer from above the left circle changed direction on the way to the net as the puck caromed off Sabres Tyler Myers and whizzed past screened Miller.
Sabres had several chances in the final frame, but failed to capitalize. They hit seven shots and had difficulty getting out of their own end.
“There wasn’t any area of our game I liked,” Sabres Coach Lindy Ruff said. “We’ve got some work to do. That was flat-out disappointing.”
Conklin turned aside all Sabres’ chances. His best save came when he held his ground to stop Drew Stafford’s shot from in close, as the Buffalo forward rushed in alone from the left boards.
A few minutes later, he stretched out his left pad to block Cody McCormick’s shot from the slot.
Sobotka finally capped the scoring at 3-0 with an empty-net goal with 68 seconds left in the game.
“we were distracted today. Seeing Brew go right before the game, our captain. He’s a h**l of a good teammate, so it’s pretty impressive how the team responded.” goaltender Conklin said.
Tags: