Shaky defense and turnovers doomed the Sabres on Sunday afternoon as Buffalo fell to the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-1, at KeyBank Center.
The Golden Knights came to town for their only Western New York appearance of the season, giving Sabres fans their annual chance to let Jack Eichel know how they feel about him whenever he touched the puck.
There were no goals in the first period, despite the Sabres peppering Vegas goaltender Adin Hill with 14 shots. Vegas had two power plays but couldn’t score as Buffalo’s penalty kill continued to improve. Unfortunately it was there other special teams unit that let them down.
The Sabres’ were 0-3 on power play and allowed a shorthanded goal at 12:17 of the second period. Down a man, Mitch Marner stole the puck from Tage Thompson near the Vegas blue line, raced in on a breakaway and beat Colten Ellis to give the Golden Knights the 1-0 lead.
About a minute and a half later, Eichel made it 2-0. Owen Power lost the puck to Ivan Barbashev while trying to retrieve it in his own end. Barbashev fed Eichel out front, and Eichel wristed the puck past Ellis at 13:43.
The Sabres showed a little pushback in the third. Beck Malenstyn scored his first goal of the season at 4:26, jabbing the puck through a scrum in front of the Vegas net and past Hill to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Golden Knights responded quickly. Tomas Hertl scored his eighth of the year after Rasmus Dahlin’s flip out of the zone went right to Marner near the blue line. Marner fed Hertl, who walked around Power and beat Ellis with a forehand to make it 3-1.
Hertl added his second of the game at the 10-minute mark. He beat the Sabres’ defense in transition to create an odd-man rush. Barbashev found him between the circles, and Hertl ripped the puck past Ellis on the glove side to extend the lead to 4-1. That’s how it ended.
Next up, the Sabres host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night at KeyBank Center.
