Sam Reinhart scored in the seventh round as the visiting Buffalo Sabres extended their winning streak to nine games with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.
Reinhart skated in from the right side and beat Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard with a backhand over his right shoulder.
Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner scored goals for Buffalo, which is on its longest winning streak since the Sabres won 10 in a row to start the 2006-07 season.
Skinner moved into the NHL goal-scoring lead with his 18th, one more than Boston's David Pastrnak -- the first time since 2013 that a Sabres player led the league in the stat. That lead lasted about an hour until Winnipeg's Patrik Laine (19) passed him with his fifth goal of the game against St. Louis.
Linus Ullmark made 35 saves to remain undefeated in regulation (5-0-1) for Buffalo. The victory also extended the Sabres' road win streak to five games, the longest in the same season since 2006-07.
Anthony Mantha had a goal and an assist and Dylan Larkin also scored for Detroit. Howard finished with 33 saves.
Skinner, who had two goals including the game-winner in a 3-2 victory over Montreal on Friday, scored his 11th goal in 13 road games to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead at the 3:37 mark of the first period. The score came on a power play after Howard stopped a Jack Eichel shot but gave up a rebound in the slot where Skinner quickly slammed it through the Red Wing goalie's pads.
Larkin tied it 53 seconds into the second period with his ninth goal of the season, firing a bad-angle shot from along the left boards that went past Ullmark's right shoulder and inside the near post.
Thompson then gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at the 7:40 mark of the third period, one-timing a pass from Rasmus Dahlin in the center of the left circle past Howard's left shoulder for his third goal of the season.
Mantha netted his seventh goal of the season with 6:08 remaining, tapping in a redirected shot by Tyler Bertuzzi that bounced off the post and stopped inches from the goal line behind Ullmark.
Both teams traded scores in the fifth round of the shootout with Andres Athanasiou scoring for the Red Wings but Thompson coming right back to tie it for the Sabres.
--Field Level Media
Buffalo | Detroit | |
Jeff Skinner 1 | Points | Anthony Mantha 2 |
Jeff Skinner 1 | Goals | Anthony Mantha 1 |
Zach Bogosian 1 | Assists | Anthony Mantha 1 |
Jeff Skinner 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Linus Ullmark .946 | Save Percentage | Jimmy Howard .943 |
Linus Ullmark 35 | Saves | Jimmy Howard 33 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Buffalo | 35 | 3 | 2-4 | 4-4 | 8 | 27 |
Detroit | 37 | 2 | 0-4 | 2-4 | 8 | 37 |