Tuch has 2 goals in return as Sabres top Maple Leafs
Avalanche rout Canadiens
TORONTO, March 14, (AP): Alex Tuch had two goals in his return from injury and the Buffalo Sabres rallied from two goals down to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Monday night.
Jack Quinn and Dylan Cozens also scored for Buffalo, and Owen Power and JJ Peterka each had two assists for Buffalo. Craig Anderson had 25 saves as the Sabres won for just the second time in eight games (2-5-1).
“Stayed patient,” said Tuch, who missed eight games with a lowerbody injury, but has six goals and three assists in his last six appearances dating back to Feb. 15. “We just stuck to it.”
ICE HOCKEY
Auston Matthews had a goal and two assists, and William Nylander and Calle Jarnkrok also scored for Toronto. Mitch Marner had two assists and Matt Murray stopped 25 shots.
The Maple Leafs are all but assure of finishing second in the Atlantic Division, while the Sabres are trying to stay in contention for a wild card in the Eastern Conference.
“There’s enough to play for here, right?” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It’s still tight enough (in the standings) that if you let your foot off the gas, not only are you now losing home ice, but you’ve got other teams (chasing).”
After falling behind 2-0 early in the second period, the Sabres scored four consecutive goals over a 27-minute stretch.
“We’ve made defending a greater focal point,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “Our guys recognized tonight ways they could impact it more and more as the game went along.”
Quinn batting the puck past Murray
for the rookie forward’s 13th to get the Sabres on the scoreboard with 5:02 left in the second.
Anderson made a nice breakaway stop on Nylander on Toronto’s next shot early in the third - the Leafs went over 17 minutes without testing the Sabres’ goalie - before Tuch tied things at 3:39.
Murray denied Tage Thompson on a break to keep Toronto level, but Cozens gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead near the midpoint of the period for his 26th.
With the Sabres on a power play, Tuch converted a pass from Jeff Skinner with 8:41 left for his second of the night and first 30-goal season.
But Matthews eventually connected early in the second. After Marner and Alexander Kerfoot moved in on a 2-on-1, the latter booted the puck with his skate into the path of Matthews for him to chip his 31st upstairs.
Jarnkrok then doubled the advantage just over three minutes later when
Avalanche 8, Canadiens 4
In Montreal, Artturi Lehkonen scored twice in Colorado’s four-goal first period to lead the Avalanche to their third win in four games.
Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and two assists, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, and Nathan MacKinnon, J.T. Compher, Matt Nieto and Bowen Byram also scored for Colorado. Cale Makar had three assists, and Devon Toews and Logan O’Connor each had two. Alexandar Georgiev finished with 15 saves.
Josh Anderson had a goal and an assist, and Chris Wideman, Mike Matheson and Denis Gurianov also scored as the Canadiens lost their seventh straight (0-5-2). Nick Suzuki had two assists.
Jake Allen started in goal and was pulled early in the second quarter after giving up six goals on 15 shots. Sam Montembault came on and finished with 16 saves.
Stars 5, Kraken 2
In Seattle, Jason Robertson scored his 39th goal of the season, the last of three power-play goals by Dallas, and the Stars got their sixth win in seven games.
Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists and Miro Heisknaen had three assists as Dallas strengthened its lead on top of the Central Division. The Stars moved three points in front of Minnesota with 15 games left in the regular season.
Evgenii Dadonov, Joe Pavelski and Wyatt Johnston also scored for Dallas, and the Stars swept both
NHL Results/Standings
WASHINGTON, March 14, (AP): Results and standings from the NHL games on Monday. Buffalo 4 Toronto 3 Colorado 8 Montreal 4 Dallas 5 Seattle 2
Eastern Conference
x-Boston Toronto Tampa Bay Florida Buffalo Ottawa Detroit Montreal
Carolina 65 43 14 8 94 New Jersey 66 44 16 6 94 N.Y. Rangers 66 37 19 10 84 Pittsburgh 66 34 22 10 78 N.Y. Islanders68 34 26 8 76 Washington 67 32 28 7 71 Philadelphia 66 24 31 11 59 Columbus 65 20 38 7 47
Western Conference
Dallas Minnesota Colorado Winnipeg Nashville St. Louis Arizona Chicago
Vegas Los Angeles Seattle Edmonton Calgary Vancouver Anaheim San Jose
65 66 67 67 66 66 66 67
67 67 65 67 64 66 67 66
67 67 67 67 67 65 67 67
50 40 39 33 33 33 30 26
37 38 37 38 33 29 24 22
41 38 37 36 30 28 22 19
10 18 22 27 28 29 27 35
17 21 22 26 24 32 32 38
20 20 23 23 24 32 35 36
5 8 6 7 5 4 9 6
13 8 6 3 7 5 11
6
6 9 7 8 13
5 10 12
105 88 84 73 71 70 69 58
87 84 80 79 73 63 59 50
88 85 81 80 73 61 54 50
245 226 233 229 242 207 199 184
217 235 217 217 196 208 169 169 234 195 214 210 186 205 188 165
217 228 234 258 209 222 172 193
142 179 206 226 239 212 217 244
165 177 186 210 187 200 217 244 180 178 185 189 189 242 237 236
185 221 216 228 205 253 271 257
games as the teams played twice in three days in Seattle. Jake Oettinger made 26 saves for Dallas.
Yanni Gourde and Eeli Tolvanen scored for Seattle, and Martin Jones had 27 saves while making his first start in 11 days.