Sabres make it 10 straight
BUFFALO: The Buffalo Sabres had to go to overtime after squandering a two-goal lead in the third period, but they still made it a perfect 10.
Jeff Skinner scored his team-leading 19th goal 1:19 minutes into overtime, and the Sabres won their 10th straight by beating the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Rasmus Ristolainen scored off a deke around Brent Burns, and Nathan Beaulieu also scored for Buffalo, who haven’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 from Nov 29, 2016, to Jan 3, 2017. Buffalo won 10 straight twice before, and most recently by going 10-0 to open the 200607 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 8½ minutes to up his teamleading total to 15.
Martin Jones stopped 28 shots and had little chance on any of the three goals.
In Philadelphia, Brady Tkachuk scored twice in the third period and Matt Duchene scored the eventual winner with 2:59 minutes left, lifting Ottawa past Philadelphia 4-3, in the Flyers’ first game since they fired general manager Ron Hextall.
Thomas Chabot also scored for Ottawa, which snapped a three-game losing skid.
Jake Voracek, Radko Gudas and Travis Konecny scored for the Flyers, who coughed up a 3-1 lead over the final 6½ minutes and lost for the sixth time in seven games.
In Florida, Ryan Miller made 34 saves and Nick Ritchie had a goal and an assist in Anaheim’s 3-1 victory over Tampa Bay.
In Montreal, Curtis McElhinney stopped 48 shots and Carolina defeated the Canadiens 2-1 in Shea Weber’s return from injury for Montreal.