In Anaheim, Alex Tuch, Zemgus Girgensons, and Dylan Cozens scored for the Buffalo Sabres in the third period on Wednesday to turn a competitive 4-3 advantage to the Sabres into a 7-3 win over the Ducks.
“It felt like we were back into a rhythm as far as five guys playing together from one shift to the next shift,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “I know they were very excited about that feeling.”
Eric Comrie made 19 saves in the Buffalo win.
The Sabres improved to 27-22-4, they ended a four-game skid with the win.
Tyson Jost and Tage Thompson (shorthanded) scored in the first period to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead.
The Ducks dropped to 17-32-6.
“We’re certainly going to be getting everybody’s best,” Anaheim’s Kevin Shattenkirk (goal) said. “[Opponents] are going to probably feel like they can come in here, and these are two points that they have to have. We just have to make that job harder on them.”
Shattenkirk scored his first of the season in the second period to get the Ducks within one at 2-1.
“It was, personally, nice to get that one off my shoulders,” Shattenkirk said.
Cam Fowler tied the game, 2-2, at 7:48 of the second
“We started moving our feet a little bit, playing on our toes,” Fowler said of the second period. “We sat back quite a bit in the first period and let them dictate the pace of the game, and that’s not the recipe for success.”
Fowler scored his second of the period at 13:08 for a 3-2 lead to the Ducks.
That lead lasted all of 35 seconds when Peyton Krebs, tied the game, 3-3.
Buffalo took the lead for good with under two minutes left in the second period on a marker from Casey Mittelstadt .
“After we fall behind 3-2, our guys wanted to get back out there,” Granato said. “That kind of exemplified how dialed in our guys were tonight and how determined they were.”
Lukas Dostal made 37 saves in the Ducks loss.
“We came out in the second and obviously responded, but they answered back,” Shattenkirk said. “That’s something we have to be prepared for as well. Teams aren’t going to just roll over and let us have that win once we go up by a goal.”
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