Buffalo Sabers defeated Columbus Blue Jackets 2–1. Sabres’ Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen blocked 25 shots.
– As the right defender number ten, Henri Jokiharju. Come to the eggs!
In the locker room of the NHL team Buffalo Sabres, Finnish-language exclamations could be heard before the match against the Columbus Blue Jackets, when the fathers of the players who came along for the away tour raised the mood by presenting the evening’s lineups.
Henri Jokiharjun introduced his father Juha Jokiharju, who played more than 300 SM league matches in his own career and won the Finnish championship in the Jokers. Experience was also gained from the Swedish and French leagues.
After Jokiharju took the stage Jari Luukkonen.
– This has been a great experience so far. I hope that after the game there will be the same atmosphere. And in the finish you have Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen!
The Finnish men’s raises received the most enthusiastic reception from the players.
Luukkonen denied the win
Buffalo won their away match 2–1. The winning goal was completed by a defender in the third period Connor Clifton, for whom the goal was the first in 71 matches. The last time he managed to score was last season at the beginning of March against Boston.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen blocked Buffalo’s goal 25 times and only got past Dmitri Voronkov overtime goal in the opening set.
Luukkonen pulled off a top save in the second set, when Columbus Yegor TÅ¡inahov tried to score from a pass.
– Our defense played well. The match was not perfect, but we kind of pushed them aside, we got sticks and bodies in front of their shooting lines, Luukkonen said on the NHL website.
– This was an important victory. Such 2–1 wins have been missing from us this season. Everyone played well.
Luukkonen was chosen as the third star of the match. Henri Jokiharju toiled in the Sabres’ defense for 25 minutes, while the plus-minus statistic showed zero.
The victory was the second consecutive and fifth consecutive away win for the Sabres, who are sixth in the Atlantic division, which is the longest away winning streak in the NHL at the moment.
The Blue Jackets are the jumbos of the Metropolitan division.
The Minnesota Wild beat the Edmonton Oilers 4–2. Minnesota went from a tie to a 3–1 lead in the third period by Jonas Brodin and Matt Boldyn with goals. The Oilers still came to the top of the goal with superiority, but Wild’s Norwegian forward Mats Zuccarello nailed the Final Readings to an empty goal.
In the third match, the Winnipeg Jets beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3–2 in overtime. The solution hit Kyle Connor.
NHL results and standings.