Sabres Hold Off Golden Knights, Win 4th Straight 3-2
Written by Pete Zehler on March 3, 2026
The Buffalo Sabres built a three-goal lead and withstood a late push from the Vegas Golden Knights Tuesday night, skating away with a 3-2 victory at KeyBank Center.
After a quiet opening few minutes, Buffalo began to take control of the pace with crisp puck movement and strong work along the boards. The breakthrough came at 15:58 of the first period when Jason Zucker finished off a beautiful passing sequence, wiring home a feed from Ryan McLeod to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead. The goal was the reward for a stretch in which Buffalo consistently established its presence in the offensive zone and limited Vegas to the outside defensively.
Buffalo’s penalty kill came up strong midway through the period after Alex Tuch was sent off for tripping, and the Sabres carried their one-goal advantage into intermission after outshooting Vegas 11-7 and dominating the faceoff circle.
The Sabres came out flying in the second. Just 46 seconds in, Owen Power snapped a wrist shot from the blue line through traffic to double the lead. A few minutes later, the crowd erupted again when Tuch set up Tage Thompson for a one-timer that made it 3-0, capping off some of Buffalo’s cleanest passing of the night.
But the Golden Knights answered quickly. Ivan Barbashev got Vegas on the board at 13:10, and moments later Pavel Dorofeyev converted on a breakaway, slipping a shot five-hole to cut the lead to 3-2. The momentum shifted in a hurry, and Vegas spent more time in the Buffalo zone during the latter half of the period.
Goaltender Alex Lyon steadied things before the horn, turning aside a pair of quality chances in the final minute of the second to preserve the one-goal edge.
The third period was tight and physical, with Vegas pressing for the equalizer. Buffalo weathered the push, killing off sustained pressure and surviving a tense final few minutes.
In the end, the Sabres’ strong first half and timely saves were enough. Buffalo dictated play early, built the cushion it needed, and did just enough defensively down the stretch to secure the 3-2 win over one of the Western Conference’s top teams.