National Hockey League
Buffalo 5, St. Louis 2
When: 7:30 PM ET, Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Where: KeyBank Center, Buffalo, New York
Referees: Jake Brenk, Jean Hebert
Linesmen: Scott Cherrey, Greg Devorski
Attendance: 16521

Red-hot Jack Eichel scored twice as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the visiting St. Louis Blues 5-2 Tuesday night.

Eichel extended his points streak to 14 games. He has 12 goals and 13 assists during that span.

Sam Reinhart, Johan Larsson and Zemgus Girgensons also scored, and Linus Ullmark made 28 saves for the Sabres, who improved to 9-3-3 at home this season.

Troy Brouwer and Alex Pietrangelo scored for the Blues, who have absorbed three consecutive regulation losses for the first time this season.

The Sabres took a 1-0 lead just 18 seconds into the game with a fortuitous bounce. Victor Olofsson threw the puck toward the goal from the left wing with Reinhart and Eichel crashing the net. Reinhart barely deflected the puck, which then caromed off the skate of Blues forward David Perron and past goaltender Jake Allen, who stopped 28 of 31 shots in a hard-luck loss.

Brouwer tied the game less than 3 1/2 minutes later by punching in a pass from Ivan Barbashev, who won the race to Robert Thomas' dump-in to the end boards.

The Blues controlled much of the second period but failed to score. Barbashev and Brayden Schenn both hit the right post with shots, and Perron fired the puck off the crossbar on a power play.

Then the Sabres took a 2-1 lead with 8.6 seconds left in the period. Zach Bogosian fired a point shot well left of the net -- but the opportunistic Larsson converted the hard carom off the end boards, putting the puck into the open side.

Pietrangelo tied the game 2-2 less than four minutes into the third period with his 100th career goal. He stepped in as the trailer to hammer home a pass from Perron, who created space with a nifty move on the right wing.

Eichel countered that by stepping out from behind net unchecked to beat Allen one-on-one 5:46 into the third. Empty-net goals by Girgensons and Eichel in the final minute iced the game.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
St. Louis   Buffalo
Troy Brouwer 1 Points Jack Eichel 2
Troy Brouwer 1 Goals Jack Eichel 2
Ivan Barbashev 1 Assists Victor Olofsson 2
N/A Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Jake Allen .903 Save Percentage Linus Ullmark .933
Jake Allen 28 Saves Linus Ullmark 28
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
St. Louis 30 2 0-2 2-2 4 29
Buffalo 33 5 0-2 2-2 4 23
Upcoming Games
  • Buffalo will play their next game at home against Nashville. The Sabres have a W/L % of .467 after a win and .471 after a loss.
  • St. Louis will play their next game at home against Vegas. The Blues have a W/L % of .684 after a win and .385 after a loss.