Sabres jump out early, hang on to beat Jets
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Winnipeg Jets hit the snooze button Sunday afternoon and didn't wake up until the second period was nearly over, but by then it was too late and the Buffalo Sabres were well on their way to a 3-1 road victory.
The Sabres built a 3-0 lead with two goals from Kyle Okposo sandwiched around a Brian Gionta tally two-thirds of the way through the second period. Buffalo goalie Robin Lehner then stood tall in the Sabres net, recording 37 saves for the victory.
The Jets finally got on the board early in the third period when, on what looked to be a set play, Jets captain Blake Wheeler took a shot from the blue line which bounced off the back boards behind Lehner and out to left winger Nikolaj Ehlers, who was standing alone at the edge of the crease. He calmly shot the puck in the empty net at 4:49 of the third period.
The Jets pulled Hellebuyck with more than three minutes to go in the third period, including for part of a power play, but were unable to beat Lehner.
The Jets outshot the Sabres 38-28.
The Sabres opened the scoring just after the mid-way point of the first period when Okposo came down his right wing and took a shot, which went off a defenseman's shin pad and landed right back on his blade. He snapped the second chance over Michael Hutchinson's glove at 10:51 of the first period.
Buffalo doubled the lead when Gionta, who tapped the puck just inches wide of an empty net earlier in his shift, followed up a wrist shot that Hutchinson couldn't corral and nudged it across the goal line at 12:49.
Okposo scored his second of the game after Jets center Alex Burmistrov was stripped of the puck just inside the Sabres blue line while his linemates were changing, allowing the right winger to skate in virtually unchallenged on Hutchinson. He sniped high to the blocker side at 13:59 of the second period.
Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice had seen enough at that point and pulled Hutchinson in favor of Connor Hellebuyck.
NOTES: RW Drew Stafford, C Marko Danno and D Tyler Myers, who was a last-minute scratch with a lower-body injury, were the three scratches for the Jets. ... LW Evander Kane, LW Nicolas Deslauriers and D Casey Nelson were scratched for Buffalo. ... The Sabres won both games against the Jets last season, 4-2 in Winnipeg in January and 3-2 at home in March. ... Winnipeg is expected to be among the NHL's top sellers of merchandise once again this season thanks to its Heritage Classic jerseys. The Jets were No. 1 in their first year back in 2011-12 and among the top few two years ago thanks to fans buying away white jerseys for the "White Out" in the playoffs. ... Winnipeg rookie Patrik Laine has the second-highest shooting percentage -- 24 percent -- of all first-year players.