Ryan McLeod had a goal and three assists and James Reimer made 33 saves for the visiting Buffalo Sabres in a 5-3 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.
It was McLeod’s first career four-point game. Jacob Bernard-Docker added two assists for the Sabres (28-35-6, 62 points), who had lost two straight.
Nino Niederreiter, Colin Miller and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Jets (48-19-4, 100 points), who had won four of their past five games. Eric Comrie made 12 saves.
JJ Peterka gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 9:15 of the first period. McLeod won the faceoff back to Bernard-Docker, who pushed the puck up the right wall to Peterka. The forward then took it to the right circle and fired a wrist shot over Comrie’s glove.
Niederreiter tied it 1-1 on the power play at 2:05 of the second period when his cross-crease feed for Vladislav Namesntikov deflected off the skate of Sabres forward Beck Malenstyn and into the net.
Rasmus Dahlin blasted a one-timer from above the right circle off a pass from Bernard-Docker to put Buffalo ahead 2-1 at 18:46.
Tyson Kozak, a Manitoba native, extended it to 3-1 on the power play at 7:13 of the third period, in front of a large contingent of family and friends. Comrie stopped Mattias Samuelsson’s point shot, but Kozak was in front to sweep the rebound past him.
Miller scored 28 seconds later to pull the Jets within 3-2. Mark Scheifele spotted the defenseman coming into the zone for a pass, and Miller took it down low before roofing a wrist shot.
Moments after Reimer got his blocker up to deny Scheifele, Alex Tuch made it 4-2 Buffalo with his fourth short-handed goal of the season at 13:21, taking a pass from McLeod for a partial break.
Ehlers cut it to 4-3 at 16:32 with a slap shot from the left circle off the rush.
McLeod lifted a backhand the length of the ice into the empty net at 19:13 for the 5-3 final.
Buffalo forward Jordan Greenway left the game late in the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return.
–Field Level Media
