WINNIPEG 鈥� Forward Rasmus Dahlin and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen exchanged compliments after they helped the Buffalo Sabres snap a seven-game winless streak with a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Dahlin scored twice for the first multi-goal game in his four-year NHL career, and Luukkonen earned his first win in four games this season with 34 saves.
鈥淗e's unbelievable,鈥� Dahlin said of the second-year Finnish netminder, who only played four games last season.
鈥淲hen we need him, he does those crazy saves. He's so calm in the net. He makes confidence in our D-zone a lot better. He's, for sure, a huge part of the success.鈥�
Anders Bjork and Jeff Skinner also scored for the Sabres (9-15-4), who are now 1-5-2 in their last eight games. Tage Thompson and Victor Olofsson each contributed two assists.
It was Luukkonen's fourth straight game this season (1-2-1) after Buffalo's goalie crew was hit by injuries and absences due to COVID-19 protocols.
鈥淥f course the goals are always nice, but I think you can see (Dahlin) was playing really well today and breaking up the puck,鈥� Luukkonen, 22, said. 鈥淒efensively, too, it鈥檚 nice to see that and I think everybody feels good when the guys play well.鈥�
Pierre-Luc Dubois, with a goal and one assist, and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Jets (13-10-5).
Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves in Winnipeg's first game of a three-game homestand.
The Jets had three power plays, but only managed one shot on goal in each of them. Buffalo was ranked 23rd on the penalty kill coming into the contest.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period and the Sabres led 3-2 after the second.
鈥淲e were slow to start with,鈥� Jets coach Paul Maurice said. 鈥淲e skated for 15, 20 minutes and then slowed and could never get back up to speed.鈥�
Buffalo went on the power play at 6:42 of the first period. Dahlin capitalized 32 seconds later with his fourth goal of the season off a high shot on the stick side of Hellebuyck.
The Jets tied it up almost three minutes later after Dubois put a low shot past Luukkonen from outside the crease, scoring his 14th of the season at 10:04.
Winnipeg outshot the visitors 14-7 after the opening period.
鈥淭hey're good players,鈥� Jets defenceman Nate Schmidt said of the Sabres. 鈥淚t's 100 per cent on us 鈥� being ready for the game, being prepared and have the giddy-up, the jump to go the whole game."聽
The Jets had the early power play 1:45 into the second, but again only fired one shot on goal.
Bjork got the go-ahead goal at 11:30 on a feed to the front of the net by Vinnie Hinostroza, who was playing his 300th NHL game.
鈥淵ou leave a guy wide open in front of your net, you鈥檝e got a problem,鈥� Maurice said.
Winnipeg responded 66 seconds later with Ehlers' 11th goal of the season to make it 2-2.
鈥淵ou feel (bad) every time you lose a game, and in this league it doesn鈥檛 matter who you鈥檙e playing against,鈥� Ehlers said.
The Jets spent a lot of time after the goal in Buffalo's end, but when the Sabres went down the ice Dahlin scored his second of the game through traffic with 39 seconds left in the period.
Another man advantage five seconds into the third again only resulted in one shot on goal for Winnipeg.
Skinner supplied the two-goal gap with his ninth goal of the season at 11:55.
鈥淕uys were maybe ticked-off at practice鈥� yesterday,鈥� Buffalo coach Don Granato said. 鈥淭here was better intent and they saw it through, and it鈥檚 obviously nice to get the win.鈥�
The Jets were missing captain Blake Wheeler, who injured a knee in last Friday's shootout loss in Vancouver. He doesn't require surgery, but is expected to miss weeks.
Winnipeg hosts the Washington Capitals on Friday. Buffalo plays the second game of a three-game road trip against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
