Blues 3 - 0 Sabres
Final
  for this game

Allen's shutout leads Blues over Sabres

Feb 6, 2015 - 3:41 AM Buffalo, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Jake Allen made 23 saves for his third shutout of the season and the St. Louis Blues beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-0 on Thursday.

It was Allen's fourth career shutout and first since he posted two in a row early in the season.

In their seventh straight win, the Blues got goals from Dmitrij Jaskin, Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz. They extended their point streak to 13 games.

The Sabres lost for the 15th time in their last 16 games despite 27 saves from Jonas Enroth.

"I thought Jonas played a strong game for us," said Sabres coach Ted Nolan.

With two minutes to go in the second period, the Blues finally broke the scoreless deadlock. After Chris Butler's shot from the point was deflected wide of the net, Jaskin picked up the loose puck and banked a wraparound shot off Enroth.

The Sabres had a great chance to tie the game while short-handed. A turnover at the blue line allowed Brian Flynn to skate in alone against Allen, but Allen stood strong with two pad saves before the puck could be carried out of danger.

"He tried to settle the puck down, and I could sort of tell he was going to shoot at that point," said Allen.

Tarasenko added an insurance goal with less than six minutes to go. He corralled David Backes' saucer pass from across the slot and beat Enroth.

Not long after Enroth went to the bench for an extra skater, Schwartz stick- handled away from Sabres and wristed the puck into the vacated net from just inside the blue line.

Despite frequently lacking possession early in the game, the Sabres were able to put some pressure on Allen in the first period. After making the initial stop on a Brian Gionta shot, he had to quickly slide his left pad to deny Nicolas Deslauriers twice.

Game Notes

On his 22nd birthday, Blues forward Ty Rattie was credited with his first NHL point thanks to a secondary assist on Jaskin's goal ... Tarasenko has a three- game goal streak ... Sabres defenseman Nikita Zadorov was a healthy scratch despite having four points in his last three games ... Buffalo is 0-8-0 against Central Division opponents since last season's realignment.






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