Tuch’s short-handed goal lifts Sabres by Canadiens
Former Golden Knight Alex Tuch scored a tiebreaking short-handed goal with 1:52 left in the second period to lift Buffalo past host Montreal 3-2 on Wednesday.
Ukko-pekka Luukkonen stopped 29 shots for the Sabres, who have alternated wins and losses for their past six games. The Canadiens lost their third straight and fifth in six games.
Jeff Skinner’s power-play goal at 9:28 of the second period tied the score at
2. It was his 27th against Montreal, the second-most among active players behind Alex Ovechkin’s 38.
Tuch’s goal, his 16th this season, came during a Canadiens power play on which Cole Caufield had three turnovers.
Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble scored for Montreal in support of Sam Montembeault, who had 20 saves.
Struble’s goal, which put the Canadiens up 2-1 at 6:35 of the second, deflected off former Golden Knight Peyton Krebs and fooled Luukkonen.
■ Maple Leafs 6, Coyotes 3: At Tempe, Ariz., Auston Matthews scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season in his homestate return, becoming the fastest NHL player to reach 50 goals in 28 years. The Scottsdale, Arizona, native was playing in his 54th game this season.
Mario Lemieux achieved the milestone in 50 games with Pittsburgh in 1995-96. The fastest is Wayne Gretzky, who got his 50th in his 39th game for Edmonton in 1981-82 on his way to a record 92 goals.
Matthews is the fastest to 50 goals among U.s.-born players, passing Kevin Stevens’ record of 62 games for the Penguins set in 1992-93.
William Nylander also scored twice for Toronto, which won its fifth straight and dealt Arizona its 11th loss in a row.
■ Blue Jackets 7, Ducks 4: At Anaheim, Calif., Yegor Chinakhov scored the tiebreaking goal 6:50 into the third period for Columbus, which blew a 4-0 lead before rallying. Sean Kuraly scored his second goal of the night 49 seconds after Chinakhov’s score for the Blue Jackets, who got two first-period goals from defenseman Zach Werenski. Mason Mctavish scored twice for Anaheim.
■ Flyers 3, Blackhawks 1: At Chicago, Travis Konecny scored an unassisted goahead goal 3:15 into the second period, extending his point streak to seven games for Philadelphia, which improved to 5-1-1 in its past seven games. Chicago was outshot 33-22 in its 10th loss in 11 games.
■ Bruins 6, Oilers 5, OT: At Edmonton, Alberta, Charlie Mcavoy scored with 1:50 left in overtime after Boston had blown a 4-1 lead. Warren Foegele had two goals for Edmonton, which had a 44-35 edge in shots but lost for the second time in five games.