Sabres rattle off their 10th straight win

BUFFALO, N.Y. The Buffalo Sabres had to go to overtime after squandering a two-goal, third-period lead, but they still made it a perfect 10.

Jeff Skinner scored his teamleading 19th goal 1:19 into overtime and the Sabres won their 10th straight game Tuesday by beating the San Jose Sharks 3-2.

Rasmus Ristolainen scored off a deke around Brent Burns and Nathan Beaulieu also scored for Buffalo, which hasn’t lost since Nov. 4.

The streak matches the longest in Sabres history and is the NHL’s best run since the Columbus Blue Jackets won 16 in a row in the 201617 season. Buffalo won 10 straight twice before, most recently to open the 2006-07 season.

Carter Hutton stopped the first 32 shots he faced and 36 overall to extend his personal-best winning streak to eight, during which he’s allowed just 15 goals.

Joe Pavelski scored twice for the Sharks in the final 81/2 minutes to up his team-leading total to 15.

Martin Jones stopped 28 shots and had little chance on any of the three goals.

The decisive goal came after Jones poked the puck away from Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin, who was driving to the net. Skinner followed by beating Evander Kane to the loose puck and scored.

The Sharks, coming off a 6-0 loss Saturday at Vegas, earned a point to move into a tie with idle Calgary for the Pacific Division lead.

By improving to 17-6-2, the Sabres are eight wins short of matching last season’s total, when they became the NHL’s first team to finish 31st in the standings following the addition of the expansion Golden Knights.