Tuch’s 2nd goal lifts Sabres past NHL-best Bruins in overtime
BOSTON — Alex Tuch scored his second goal of the game in overtime, and the Buffalo Sabres rallied for a 4-3 victory over the NHL-best Boston Bruins on Saturday for their sixth straight win.
Tage Thompson scored his team-leading 27th goal and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 37 shots for the Sabres, who won for just the second time in their last 11 games against the Bruins.
“Everybody knows how good they’ve been at home,” Luukkonen said in a joyful and loud Sabres’ locker room. “I feel like guys are really confident now and it shows.”
Trailing 3-2 and skating with an extra attacker after pulling its goalie, Buffalo tied it when Dylan Cozens slipped a wrister past Jeremy Swayman with 1:37 to play.
“We came in here and I thought a lot of guys really showed up and worked really hard,” Tuch said. “We’re finding examples where we allow skill to take over. We got a little lucky, but we’ll take it.”
Boston’s Brad Marchand had scored the go-ahead goal on a clean breakaway after setting up Patrice Bergeron’s tying score just over five minutes into the third period.
“There’s always something to learn — win or loss,” Marchand said. “We realize that any team can win any game. When we’re up late like that we have to have the killer instinct. We didn’t tonight. Definitely something we have to be better at down the road and playoff time.” David Pastrnak added his 25th goal and Swayman made 21 saves for the Bruins, who remained unbeaten in regulation at home at 18-0-3.
Tuch slipped a shot past Swayman from the slot for the game-winner.
“It was relieving,” Tuch said. “I was a little tired. A couple of long shifts.”
Boston failed to add to its lead with a 5-on-3 power play late in the game.
“In that situation, with time on the clock and the amount of time we have on the 5-on-3, I think we have to extend the lead there,” Bergeron said.
Marchand had collected Pastrnak’s pass, skated up the middle and slipped a wrister between Luukkonen’s pads.
Bergeron’s tying score came when he one-timed Marchand’s pass from the edge of the right circle.
Tuch skated in on a breakaway and slipped a wrister inside the left post to put the Sabres ahead 2-1 early in the second period.
Boston had taken a 1-0 edge at 13:09 of the first when Pastrnak one-timed David Krejci’s cross-ice pass, but Thompson collected the puck in front of the net and shifted around Swayman before tucking it in at 16:13 of the period.
Capitals 9, Canadiens 2:
Alex Ovechkin recorded his 30th career hat trick to speed up his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s goal record, Charlie Lindgren made 31 saves against his first NHL team and Washington skated circles around Montreal. Ovechkin’s 804th, 805th and 806th career goals put him 88 back of Gretzky’s mark that long seemed unapproachable. He has scored six times in four games to reach 26 this season, past the halfway point to his 10th 50-goal season, which would be one more than the “Great One.”
Blue Jackets 4, Blackhawks 1:
Gustav Nyquist scored two shorthanded goals, Joonas Korpisalo made 26 saves and Columbus ended a seven-game losing streak . Emil Bemstrom and Kirill Marchenko scored for the Blue Jackets. Johnny Gaudreau had two assists for his 13th assist in December, tying a franchise record set by Artemi Panarin in 2017. Andreas Athanasiou scored and Alex Stalock made 34 saves for the Blackhawks, who have one win in 12 games — and that was against the Blue Jackets on Dec. 23.
Golden Knights 5, Predators 4 (OT):
Nic Hague scored on a shot on a delayed penalty with 2:56 left in overtime, helping Vegas overcome a hat trick by Filip Forsberg in a win over Nashville. Vegas is 4-0 on the final day of the year, and heading into the new year with a Western Conference-leading 52 points. Three players had a multiple-point game for the Knights. Chandler Stephenson had a goal and and two assists, Keegan Kolesar a goal and an assist, and Mark Stone added three assists. Flyers 4, Kings 2: Noah Cates scored a go-ahead, short-handed goal in the third period, Owen Tippett had a goal and an assist and Philadelphia snapped Los Angeles’ sevengame point streak. Scott Laughton and Travis Konecny also scored for the Flyers, who have won three of their past five. Rookie Samuel Ersson stopped 27 shots. Philip Danault had a goal and extended his point streak to seven for the Kings, who were 6-0-1 coming into the game. Adrian Kempe also scored and Jonathan Quick made 19 saves.
Note: The Colorado Avalanche activated forward Nathan MacKinnon from injured reserve before their game against Toronto on Saturday night. MacKinnon has missed the last 11 games with an upper-body injury.