Tuch leads Buffalo rally with two goals in third

SABRES 4, MAPLE LEAFS 3

Alex Tuch had two goals in his return from injury, and the visiting 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. Craig Anderson had 25 saves to help the Sabres win for just the second time in eight games (2-5-1).

Auston Matthews had a goal and two assists for Toronto, and William Nylander and Calle Jarnkrok also scored. Mitch Marner had two assists, and Matt Murray stopped 25 shots.

After falling behind 2-0 early in the second period, the Sabres scored four consecutive goals in a 27-minute stretch.

Quinn batted the puck past Murray for the rookie forward’s 13th goal 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 Maple Leafs went more than 17 minutes without testing the Sabres’ goalie — before Tuch tied it 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 his first 30-goal season.

The Maple Leafs finally woke up as the period wore on, but Anderson stopped Michael Bunting on a two-on-zero break with John Tavares. Nylander scored his 35th from a tight angle with 1:01 remaining, but that’s as close as Toronto would come.

Playing his 38th career game against the Maple Leafs, Anderson was sharp in a first period that included a couple of good looks for Matthews, who came in with 13 goals in 16 games against the 41-year-old.

But Matthews eventually connected early in the second. After Marner and Alexander Kerfoot moved in on a two-on-one, the latter booted the puck with his skate into the path of Matthews for him to chip his 31st upstairs.

Jarnkrok doubled the advantage just over three minutes later when he fired five-hole for his 15th.

Tuch was back in the lineup after an eight-game absence with a lower-body injury.

• AVALANCHE 8, CANADIENS 4: Artturi Lehkonen scored twice in Colorado’s fourgoal first period that led to a rout of host Montreal.

Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and two assists and Mikko Rantanen added a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, which won for the third time in four games.

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 for Montreal, which also got goals from Chris Wideman, Mike Matheson and Denis Gurianov. Nick Suzuki had two assists for the Canadiens, who lost their seventh in a row (0-5-2).

Jake Allen started in goal but was pulled early in the second period after giving up six goals on 15 shots. Sam Montembeault came on and finished with 16 saves.

Hurricanes’ Svechnikov out

The Carolina Hurricanes said Andrei Svechnikov will be out indefinitely with a knee injury.

The 22-year-old forward injured his right knee Saturday night in a loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. Don Waddell, the Hurricanes’ general manager, said in a statement that Svechnikov had an MRI exam and further consultation with doctors before the decision was made.

Svechnikov is tied for second on the team with 55 points.