*Sorry for the lack of photos! Hoping to get permission eventually.*
The Buffalo Sabres defeated the Blackhawks 3-0 on Thursday, January 18th. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 19 saves for his second consecutive shutout. This marks his third career NHL shutout, as the Sabres beat the San Jose Sharks on Monday. It was a pretty unfortunate loss for the Blackhawks as this is the 31st game they have lost this season. However, they were able to get a shootout win on Tuesday against the Sharks - so hopefully they can keep their heads up, stay focused, and start winning more games.
Arvid Soderblom made 28 saves off of 31 shots for the Blackhawks.
Blackhawks lineup against the Sabres:
Pitlick - Kurashev - Raddysh
Blackwell - Dickinson - Anderson
Reichel - Entwistle - Guttman
Katchouk - Sanford - Donato
Vlasic - Jones
Tinordi - Megna
Korchinski - Phillips
Soderblom
Mrazek
Sabres lineup against the Blackhawks:
Benson - Thompson - Tuch
Girgensons - Mittelstadt - Quinn
Robinson - Krebs - Peterka
Olofsson - Greenway - Okposo
Dahlin - Jokiharju
Power - Johnson
Johnson - Clifton
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Levi
The Sabres were already becoming dominant in the first period with shots on net, Soderblom able to save any that came at him - although, the first period was completely scoreless.
Zemgus Girgensons was finally able to beat Soderblom, giving Buffalo the lead with his fourth goal of the season and 7:33 remaining in the middle frame.
JJ Peterka doubled the lead for the Sabres early into the third period, the shot sent from along the goal line and in off the mask of Arvid Soderblom. Ryan Johnson assisted Peterka's goal, Johnson recorded his second assist of the game - marking his first multi-point game of his career. Rasmus Dahlin strikes the third goal of the game, getting a great shot into a small crevice of the net, marking his 13th goal of the season with 13:54 remaining in the final frame.
Alex Vlasic spoke about the Blackhawks 3-0 loss after the game: "We came out pretty slow right from the start - Nobody was really ready to go. They like to play kind of a hot fine game, pretty face pace, and we just played right into that. We were sluggish the whole game, myself included. I feel like a lot of us didn't really have our legs and we weren't ready to go from the start."
Vlasic on Soderblom: "He played so well, I feel bad. Last two games we had him in, we kind of let him down in this one and the Nashville one - He kept us in there as much as he could. It's hard to win a game when you score zero goals."
Notes:
- This game marked the fifth game straight where the Blackhawks have recorded one or fewer goals in regulation.
- Luukkonen extended his shutout streak to 157:55 - the second longest in the NHL this season and the ninth longest in Buffalo Sabres history
Postgame: Henri Jokiharju
Postgame: Zemgus Girgensons
Postgame: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Postgame: Don Granato
Postgame: Luke Richardson
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