Hofer stops 33 shots, Neighbours scores 2 in St. Louis Blues 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Joel Hofer stopped 33 shots, Jake Neighours scored twice and the St. Louis Blues returned from their bye week off with a 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Jordan Kyrou scored the go-ahead goal 4 1/2 minutes into the second period and the Blues, off since a 1-0 loss to Columbus on Jan. 30, won their sixth of seven outings.

Kyle Okposo was credited for Buffalo’s lone goal after being the last Sabres player to touch the puck before Blues defenseman Matthew Kessel’s banked his clearing attempt off the skate of teammate Oskar Sundqvist and into the net.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 23 shots and dropped to 6-5 in his past 11 starts despite allowing 19 goals over that span. Buffalo has lost two straight and scored twice since returning from its bye week off with a 2-1 home loss to Dallas on Tuesday.

Kyrou scored his 15th of the season 4:32 into the second period, and 3:41 after Okposo tied the game. The goal came on fortunate bounce.

In attempting to feed Pavel Buchnevich to the right of the net, Colton Parayko’s pass instead caromed off the boards, off Luukkonen and directly to Kyrou, who snapped in a shot inside the right post.

Neighbours, with his 16th of the season, opened the scoring with a power-play goal 12:53 into the first period. Blues forward Robert Thomas’ pass through the middle instead caromed off Buchnevich to the left of the net, where Neighbours swept it into the open side.

Neighbours sealed the victory by converting a rebound off Brayden Schenn’s shot with 1:57 remaining. Kasperi Kapanen picked up an assist on the goal in returning after missing seven games with a lower body injury.

The Blues caught a break with 3:45 remaining when a video review nullified a double-minor penalty for high sticking against Parayko, who caught Buffalo forward Jordan Greenway across the mouth while battling for the puck in front of the St. Louis net. Officials erased the penalty by ruling Greenway had his head down when being struck by Parayko.

Slow starts continue being a major reason for Buffalo’s struggles in a season the team’s already in jeopardy of extending its NHL-record playoff drought to a 13th consecutive season. The Sabres dropped to 6-22-3 when allowing the opening goal.

They entered the game allowing an NHL-worst 63 goals in the opening period, and ranked 30th in the league in scoring 35.

UP NEXT

Blues: Play at the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.

Sabres: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

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