Joel Hofer pitches impressive shutout as Blues down Sabres

Joel Hofer made 28 saves for his third career shutout as the visiting St. Louis Blues blanked the Buffalo Sabres 3-0 Thursday night.

Mathieu Joseph had a goal and two assists for the Blues, who won for just the second time in 10 games. Justin Faulk had a goal and an assist for St. Louis and Nick Bjugstad also scored.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed two goals on 16 shots for the Sabres, whose seven-game point streak ended.

Buffalo outshot St. Louis 7-4 in the first period, but the Blues took a 1-0 lead.

The Sabres got a power play when Blues defenseman Cam Fowler took a hooking penalty to thwart a Buffalo rush. After Hofer's glove save on Josh Doan's point-blank shot, the Blues countered with a short-handed goal.

Joseph stole the puck at Buffalo's left point and converted his breakaway.

Buffalo had multiple chances to tie the game in the first period, but Tage Thompson hit the post with a long shot through traffic and Hofer gloved Michael Kesselring's last-second shot from the right faceoff dot.

The Blues controlled the early second period. Luukkonen stopped Nathan Walker shot on a 2-on-1 rush, but Bjugstad gave the Blues a 2-0 lead by taking Faulk's pass and snapping a shot from the left wing.

The Sabres earned multiple scoring chances for the rest of the period, including Owen Power's shot from outside the left post and Jack Quinn's slap shot from above the left circle, but they again couldn't convert.

Rasmus Dahlin hit the post during a sustained flurry and Hofer made a right pad save on Alex Tuch's point-blank shot.

Buffalo sustained offensive pressure through the third period. Quinn earned a great scoring chance moving through left circle and Isak Rosen tested Hofer while moving in from the right circle.

Faulk's empty net goal with 62 seconds left iced the game.