BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jack Quinn capped his three-goal outing with an empty-netter, and the Buffalo Sabres won their eighth straight by beating the San Jose Sharks 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Jason Zucker and Beck Malenstyn broke the game open by scoring four minutes apart in the second period. Alex Tuch also scored, posting his 300th career point with Buffalo, in his 600th career NHL game, and captain Rasmus Dahlin and Ryan McLeod had three assists each.
Alex Lyon stopped 17 shots, improving to 15-2 in his past 17 starts.
Macklin Celebrini, Kiefer Sherwood and Alexander Wennberg scored for San Jose, which opened a five-game road trip a point behind eighth-place Seattle in the Western Conference standings. Yaroslav Askarov finished with 20 saves.
Celebrini’s goal was the 19-year-old Canadian Olympian’s 33rd and 90th point in his 62nd game of the season. The only NHL players in their teens to reach 90 points in fewer games are Sidney Crosby (54 games in 2006-07) and Wayne Gretzky (56, 1979-80).
The Atlantic Division-leading Sabres, coming off a thrilling 8-7 win over Tampa Bay, improved to 29-5-2 in their past 36 outings — a run that began with a 10-game win streak.
At 40-19-6, Buffalo continued closing in on ending an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought. Buffalo’s 40 wins are the second most in its past 15 years, and two short of matching the team's 2022-23 season total.
The Sabres took a 3-1 lead on Malenstyn’s goal 4:59 into the second period. Buffalo’s Peyton Krebs chipped the puck out of his zone, and Malenstyn chased it down before working his way around defenseman Sam Dickinson and beating Askarov on the glove side.
Zucker made it 4-1 by tapping in a rebound after Aksarov stopped Quinn’s one-timer from the left circle.
Sharks: At Boston on Thursday night.
Sabres: Host Washington on Thursday night.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
