Golden Knights blanked by Sabres, Luukkonen in home loss

Danny Webster, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Mar 18, 2026

Published in Hockey

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The Vegas Golden Knights felt they turned a corner after winning back-to-back games for the first time in almost a month.

They turned the corner Tuesday and ran into a 6-foot-5 Finnish wall that stopped everything thrown at him.

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 27 saves, one massive stop after another, and the Knights lost 2-0 at T-Mobile Arena to one of the top teams in the NHL.

“I thought we played a good game. I really did,” winger Mitch Marner said. “We had a lot of good looks and the goalie made some good saves. But I liked our game.”

Luukkonen stifled the Knights, who scored 10 goals combined their previous two games. It looked like they were destined to break through at some point.

The Knights had 68 shot attempts to the Sabres’ 50, but they missed the net 21 times.

It wasted another terrific performance from goaltender Adin Hill, who did all he could with 23 saves in his fifth consecutive start.

Hill has allowed eight total goals on 105 shots in that stretch, giving him a .924 save percentage.

His teammates couldn’t give him the help he needed.

Sabres winger Josh Doan and center Josh Norris provided the goals, as the Knights (31-23-14) dropped to 4-7 since the Olympic break and fell back to third place in the Pacific Division.

The Sabres (42-20-6) moved into a tie with the Carolina Hurricanes for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Hill didn’t make many mistakes. His biggest one allowed the Sabres to capitalize.

Hill misplayed a puck near the edge of the trapezoid. Doan gained possession, threw it at Hill as he went back to the crease and in the net at 18:02 of the period for a 1-0 lead.

Luukkonen more than held his own in his crease.

The Knights swarmed in waves to apply pressure on the 27-year-old goaltender.

Luukkonen made every stop you could ask of him — a glove stop on Brayden McNabb in tight, moments after robbing Jack Eichel, or a lunging stop on Pavel Dorofeyev on the power play.

There was no answer for Luukkonen. His tall frame covered every inch of the crease. It was going to take a fortuitous bounce for the Knights to get one past him.

Coach Bruce Cassidy even loaded up his top line for an answer, putting Marner with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone.

Marner, who was the Knights’ best forward, hit the crossbar with 5:02 remaining.

Norris scored into an empty net with 58 seconds remaining.

The Knights wrap up their four-game homestand Thursday against the Utah Mammoth.