‘Figured I’d give it a try’ | Malenstyn’s masterpiece highlights Sabres' win over Hurricanes

The Buffalo Sabres were clinging to a 2-1 lead late in the second period, badly needing an insurance tally against the Eastern Conference-leading Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday at KeyBank Center.

Peyton Krebs chipped a pass into the neutral zone for Tyson Kozak, who absorbed a hit and backhanded it to center ice for a speeding-ahead Beck Malenstyn. No. 29 handled things from there, deking around Sebastian Aho and beating goalie Frederik Andersen on the breakaway.

“I knew Krebsy had a D-man on him,” Malenstyn said. “Kind of just assumed a D-man was stepping up on Kozy, so I maybe had a little bit of an advantage going up against a forward. Figured I’d give it a try and happy it worked out.”

“I showed him my card and I said, ‘I’m taking you off as the second penalty killer – I’m bumping you to the first power play,'" joked coach Lindy Ruff.

From there, the Sabres held onto their multi-goal lead and secured a 4-1 victory.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen earned his third win of the season and stood strong against the shot-happy Hurricanes, making 13 saves in the third period and 29 in the game. He didn’t make many highlight-reel stops, but that’s because he didn't need to; Buffalo blocked 22 shots (three shy of its season high), delivered 27 hits and effectively kept Carolina bodies away from Luukkonen’s crease for much of the game.

“They gave me a chance to take the initial shot, and they were boxing out really well, especially our D-men,” Luukkonen said. “Our forwards made some blocks, and our defense was really, really solid today.”

“We kind of let them hang around (the game), but I thought when we gave up some good looks – and they’re a good team – he made the save that we needed,” Ruff added.

After Colten Ellis made three straight starts, winning two of them, Luukkonen has gotten the nod for the last two. And with a .925 save percentage in back-to-back wins, plus a team-best 2.68 goals-against average in six appearances overall, he’s making a strong case for more playing time in Buffalo’s three-goalie mix.

Goaltending has played its part in a strong week-plus for the Sabres, who’ve won four of their last five and now sit just three points back of the second wild-card spot. They rebounded from Wednesday’s disappointing loss to Calgary by scoring nine in Friday’s blowout of Chicago. Sunday’s win, though, a closely contested one over a legitimate contender, offered a blueprint for continued success as Buffalo wraps up November and battles its way up the standings.

“This is how we have to play every night: it’s competing, it’s skating, it’s doing the little things right, work for the team,” captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “That’s got to be our bare minimum. Then we can improve some other things.”

Here’s more from the win.

Goalie interference?

What is goaltender interference? That question surfaced for the second time in three games, with another review going against the Sabres.

Jacob Bryson appeared to extend Buffalo’s early lead to 2-0, but the officials immediately waved it off because of Zach Benson’s subtle contact with goalie Frederik Andersen on the perimeter of the crease. Buffalo unsuccessfully challenged the call. Take a look:

“I’m glad I’m not a betting man, because I would’ve lost a lot of money on that one,” said Ruff. “It’s one I totally disagree on.”

Carolina’s Shayne Gostisbehere tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal a few minutes later, but the Sabres were unfazed.

“Great job by us to keep calm on the bench and work through it,” Dahlin said. “There were some other calls that were questionable. We just stuck with it and played a solid, 60-minute game.”

McLeod’s perfect passing

Forward Ryan McLeod is up to 13 points (5+8) after dishing two primary assists on Sunday. On a first-period power play, he held the puck, waited for defenseman K’Andre Miller to attempt a block and passed across to an uncovered Alex Tuch, who opened the scoring for Buffalo.

McLeod also set up Jack Quinn’s game winner early in the second, finding his net-front winger with a great feed from the offensive-zone corner.

Their line with Jason Zucker was Buffalo’s best, outpacing the Hurricanes in shot attempts and holding a 66-percent share of the expected goals during their 9:21 at 5-on-5. Quinn led all skaters with six shots on goal – his most in a game since last November – and 11 shot attempts.

Tage’s streak

Tage Thompson iced the game with a last-minute empty-netter, extending his goal-scoring streak to six games. It’s the longest streak by a Sabre since Jason Pominville scored in six straight from Oct. 20 to Nov. 2, 2006.

Benson returns, Greenway sits

Forward Zach Benson returned from a 10-game absence (lower body) for his first action since Oct. 30, starting on a line with Noah Ostlund and Tyson Kozak. He finished plus-one with one shot and one block in 16:56 of ice time, including 4:09 with the top power-play unit.

Jordan Greenway, meanwhile, didn’t play. The forward isn’t yet at 100 percent after undergoing multiple hernia surgeries in the last 11 months.

“Just strength-wise, he’s not in a good enough place, and I think we’ve talked about it for a couple weeks, now: how can we get you stronger, how can we get you faster?,” Ruff said. “So we’ve kind of put a plan together, just basically a load-management plan, where maybe he can lift for three days, build up strength, play a game, not worry about playing back-to-back.”

Up next

The Sabres hit the road to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday. MSG’s pregame coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. before puck drop at 7.