Alex Tuch broke a third-period tie and James Reimer made 31 saves in his Sabres debut as Buffalo beat the host San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Saturday night.
Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and an assist and Bowen Byram had two assists for the Sabres, who swept a three-game road swing through California.
Fabian Zetterlund and Luke Kunin scored for the Sharks, who have lost three straight games. Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves.
Tuch scored short-handed to give the Sabres a 3-2 lead at 5:27 of the third, cutting off Mikael Granlund’s pass attempt and taking the puck on a breakaway to beat Blackwood five-hole from the right circle.
Dylan Cozens tied the game at 2 at 2:07 of the third period, taking a feed high in the zone from Dahlin and one-timing it from above the slot to beat a screened Blackwood stick side.
Zetterlund gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at 9:59 of the first period. William Eklund sent the puck to Jake Walman at the point. Reimer made a pad save, but the rebound was there for Zetterlund to collect in front and put past the netminder.
Peyton Krebs tied the game, 1-1, at 11:03. Byram was just inside his own blue line to cut off Will Smith’s attempt to send the puck in, and he sent it up to Krebs at the Sharks’ blue line for a two-on-one. The center took it to the left circle before firing a wrist shot into the far top corner of the net.
Kunin put the hosts ahead 2-1 at 4:07 of the second period when he took a feed from Tyler Toffoli in front of the net and slipped a backhand past Reimer’s right pad.
Reimer kept the deficit at one as Buffalo struggled to generate much through the first half of the middle frame. He made a highlight-reel stop on Macklin Celebrini, getting his left arm behind his back while on his stomach to snare a shot from the bottom of the right circle.
Dahlin scored an empty-net goal from his own end with one second left in the third period for the 4-2 final.
–Field Level Media
Dylan Guenther scored twice and added an assist, leading the Utah Hockey Club to a 6-1 victory over the host Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night. Jack McBain, Mikhail Sergachev, Nick…
David Joplin made six 3-pointers to highlight his career-high 29-point performance, lifting No. 15 Marquette to an 80-69 win over Georgia on Saturday in Nassau, Bahamas. Chase Ross and Ben…
Max Verstappen clinched his fourth consecutive World Drivers’ Championship with a fifth-place finish at the Las Vegas Grand Prix late Saturday night, while George Russell led all 50 laps to…
Top 25 roundup: David Joplin’s career day propels No. 15 Marquette past Georgia
Max Verstappen wraps up 4th straight driver’s championship
Cavs out to spoil Raptors’ first win streak of season
NBA roundup: LaMelo Ball scores 50 in Hornets’ loss to Bucks