Sabres' Lehner shuts out Red Wings 1-0
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Robin Lehner made 32 saves and Benoit Pouliot scored the lone goal to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.
It was Lehner's first shutout of the season and sixth shutout of his career as he led Buffalo (3-5-2) to its first home win of the season.
The Sabres have won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Jimmy Howard stopped 31 of 32 shots for Detroit (4-5-1).
Pouliot's goal came midway through the second period. The veteran quickly pounced on a rebound behind the Red Wings net and beat Howard with a wrap-around. It was Pouliot's second goal in the past two games.
Sabres defenseman Victor Antipin picked up his first career NHL point. Antipin was signed by Buffalo as a free agent this offseason after playing five seasons in the KHL.
Lehner's best save came with 3:32 remaining in the second period, when he stopped a shot from right winger Martin Frk from close range after a strong feed from Frans Nielsen. Lehner also held strong for several consecutive stops midway through the third period after some sustained pressure in the Buffalo end by the Red Wings.
Howard had his share of impressive stops. The Red Wings goalie came up big on a breakaway by Evander Kane with 4:23 remaining.
The shutout was a positive development for a Sabres team that has struggled on defense throughout the first month of the season. Heading into Tuesday's game, the Sabres were 28th in the NHL in goals against (3.89 goals per game).
NOTES: C Zemgus Girgensons (lower-body injury), D Zach Redmond and D Nathan Beaulieu (upper-body) were scratched for the Sabres. Girgensons missed his third game. Redmond was recalled from the AHL's Rochester Americans on Saturday. ... LW David Booth, D Danny Dekeyser (lower-body) and C Andreas Athanasiou were scratched for the Red Wings. Dekeyser has missed the past seven games. ... Sabres C Jordan Nolan played his 300th career game. ... This was the first of four meetings. The next occurs Nov. 17 in Detroit.