BUFFALO – The St. Louis Blues limped into town ripe to be exploited, having won just one of their last nine games and been throttled a night earlier by five goals.
In goal Thursday for the reeling Blues against the Sabres? Backup Joel Hofer, who owned a 5.02 goals-against average and an .836 save percentage, ghastly numbers that ranked second and third from the bottom, respectively, in the NHL.
The Sabres, meanwhile, began the night having earned at least one point in seven consecutive outings hadn’t lost in regulation since Oct. 20.
So, what happened? Hofer stole the show, stopping all 28 shots he faced as the Blues downed the Sabres 3-0 in KeyBank Center.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock, what remained of the crowd of 16,020 fans booed in disgust.
Sometimes one loss can make a strong week or two feel like a distant memory.
Hofer, who notched just his second win this season, frustrated the Sabres early and often. In the first period, he snared winger Josh Doan’s point-blank shot at the net with the Sabres up a man.
Twenty-two seconds later, Mathieu Joseph scored a short-handed breakaway goal at 12:38 after Sabres winger Jack Quinn coughed up the puck inside the St. Louis blue line.
“We missed some early opportunities that I think could have changed the game,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “Probably the best one was the Doan opportunity on the power play. We put that in, we’re not talking about a short-handed goal we give up.”
The Sabres pumped 28 shots on Hofer, who also stymied winger Alex Tuch’s point-blank attempt in the second period.
“I thought our intensity was there, our urgency was there,” Tuch said. “We didn’t give them any time or space out there. But we’ve got to bear down on our opportunities, and it starts with me.”
Some of those chances clanked the iron. Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin rattled two off the post, while Tuch hit it once.
“I hate to talk about luck and unlucky,” Dahlin said. “You got to earn your goals, and today it wasn’t going in.”
The Sabres mostly clamped down against the Blues, limiting them to 17 shots. Still, they made of the most of their chances.
In the second period, Nick Bjugstad scored from top of the left circle, beating Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen glove side at 2:42.
“I’ve got to save that,” Luukkonen said. “I don’t know what the right word for it is, but I didn’t catch it or didn’t see it clean. Our D-man’s stick was there, he played it right, that’s how you have to play it.
“But sometimes that fools you and it kind of handcuffed me, so not happy about it. I guess it’s not as easy a situation as it looks.”
Luukkonen faced just four shots in both the first and third periods. Justin Faulk’s empty-net goal sealed the win.
“Mentally, it’s harder to keep yourself in the game in those situations,” he said of facing a limited number of shots. “That’s what it is. I can’t pick where the shots are coming from or how many you get per night, so I have to be ready for anything.”
The Sabres, of course, likely knew the Blues would come out ticked off following Wednesday’s ugly 6-1 road loss to the Washington Capitals.
Blues coach Jim Montgomery held a full pregame skate the morning after a game, a rarity in the modern NHL.
“They came out hard, especially in the first period, but I thought we weathered the storm,” Tuch said. “We just shot ourselves in the foot, gave them a couple opportunities early on and then we were chasing the rest of the game.
“But I like the way we responded. I thought we put them on their heels, I thought we were getting a lot of opportunities, I thought we were playing quick.”
They hardly looked quick enough on the power play. They frittered away three chances against the NHL’s 30th-rank penalty kill.
The Sabres, who are missing four forwards who normally play on the man advantage, have converted just two of their last 21 opportunities over the last seven games.
“We got new bodies, new guys in new positions,” Dahlin said. “We’re trying to figure it out. A lot of guys injured. Obviously, don’t want to talk about guys who are out, but I think we just got to build our own chemistry, and we have work on it.”
