Buffalo Sabres blow out Vegas Golden Knights 7-2

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It was a close game at KeyBank Center on Saturday night up until the third period. That's when Buffalo blew out the Vegas Golden Knights and the Sabres skated away with a 7-2 win.

The loss drops VGK to 33-21-7 on the season.

Buffalo got things started quickly with Jeff Skinner finding the back of the net less than two minutes into the game.

In the second period, it only took 54 seconds for the Sabres to score again. Dylan Cozens and Shea Theodore were battling for the puck. Cozens was able to get it and outskated Theodore down the ice to almost go one-on-one with goalie Logan Thompson. He was able to get the puck past Thompson to once again put Buffalo on the board.

The Golden Knights battled back over the next four minutes.

Brendan Brisson got the offense going for Vegas on the power play. At 1:46, Brisson got a behind-the-back pass from Nic Roy to hammer one home.

Just a few minutes later, it was William Karlsson's turn to get in on the action.

At 4:28, the puck made its way across the ice from Paul Cotter to Jonathan Marchessault. He fed Karlsson at the right time and Karlsson was able to find the back of the net, over the left shoulder of Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to tie the game up at two.

However, that would be the last time Vegas was able to put pucks in the net.

Buffalo went ahead of the Golden Knights with a goal by Zemgus Girgensons in the second period to make it 3-2.

The Sabres added another four goals, thanks to Kyle Oposo, Owen Power, Casey Mittelstadt, and Dylan Cozens, in the third to seal the 7-2 victory.

"A lot of self-inflicted errors again tonight. It's been a costly road trip for that, in terms of us not managing the puck well and the offensive blue line, another shot blocked that came back the other way, another bobbled puck. These are easy goals," head coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game. "You can't outscore your mistakes every night in this league. Teams are good. It happened in Boston the other night. We gave up some easy ones."

The Golden Knights are continuing to struggle with key players still recovering from multiple injuries. That includes players like Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and William Carrier. However, defenseman Brayden McNabb said they can't use that as an excuse to play badly.

"We got to dig deep. That's a tough one," McNabb said after the game. "We don't have everyone in the lineup, which is not an excuse. We have to play a certain way and the right way and we didn't and it cost us."

Saturday marked Eichel's 19th game out of the lineup and he has resumed skating since having knee surgery. He's expected to return with the next couple of games.

Vegas will wrap up their road trip with a trip to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets on Monday. Puck-drop is scheduled for 4 p.m.