Zach Benson broke a tie late in the second period, and the visiting Buffalo Sabres extended their winning streak to six games with a 3-1 victory against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday in Newark.
Josh Norris and Peyton Krebs also scored for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 26 saves in his first start since Dec. 8.
Jack Hughes scored in his return from injury, and Jake Allen made 23 saves for the Devils, who had won three of their past four games.
After a couple of early chances for Buffalo that led to the first two shots on goal of the game for either side, New Jersey started to take control of the play and turned it into a 5-2 advantage in shots by the eight-minute mark of the first period.
Hughes, who missed 18 games with a finger injury, gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 8:51. He carried the puck to the top of the left circle, circled back toward the blue line to evade Sabres defenseman Michael Kesselring, and then went back to the circle before snapping it far side on Luukkonen.
The Sabres then took control in the second period to take the lead.
Norris tied it 1-1 at 2:26 of the second period. Rasmus Dahlin received a pass from Owen Power high along the left wall and took it to the near circle for a shot that Allen stopped. But Norris, in front in a battle with New Jersey defenseman Luke Hughes, swept the rebound past Allen’s left pad.
Benson put Buffalo ahead 2-1 at 16:05. Ryan McLeod pushed a short pass up for Benson, who collected it inside the blue line, carried to the right faceoff dot and, with his eyes on Jack Quinn on the other side, fooled Allen and snapped a shot through the goalie’s pads.
New Jersey pushed for the equalizer with Allen pulled for the extra attacker late in the third period. But Krebs hustled to beat Luke Hughes to a loose puck up the ice and put it into the empty net to make it 3-1 at 17:59.
–Field Level Media
