Jack Eichel scored the game-winning goal in the third period and had an assist to extend his point streak to eight games, leading the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
Sam Reinhart had a goal and two assists, and Kyle Okposo and Curtis Lazar also scored goals for Buffalo, which improved to 14-6-3 at home. Linus Ullmark finished with 24 saves.
Reilly Smith and Tomas Nosek scored goals for Vegas, which lost its fourth straight game. Marc-Andre Fleury had 22 saves while suffering his third consecutive loss. Shea Theodore had two assists.
Vegas snapped a six-game streak of allowing the first goal when it took a 1-0 lead at the 1:55 mark of the second period. Chandler Stephenson broke in on the right wing and then slid a backhand pass across the crease that caromed into the net off the skate of Nosek, who was credited with his sixth goal of the season.
Buffalo answered with a pair of power play goals later in the period to take a 2-1 lead.
Okposo got the first on a wrist shot from the top of the left circle off a feed from Reinhart for his fifth goal of the season. Reinhart, left wide open between the hash marks in the slot, followed with his 16th goal of the season when he fired a wrist shot past Fleury's glove side.
The Golden Knights tied it early in the third period with a power-play goal by Smith on the front half of a double minor on Colin Miller. Smith whipped a shot from the right face-off dot past Ullmark's blocker side for his 19th goal of the season.
Eichel then put Buffalo in front when he blew around Theodore on the left wing on an odd-man rush and flipped a shot over Fleury's right shoulder to tie his career-high with his 28th goal of the season.
The Golden Knights pulled Fleury for an extra attacker with 2:03 left, and Lazar sealed the win for the Sabres when his backhanded clearing pass slid the length of the ice into the empty net for his fourth goal of the season.
--Field Level Media
Vegas | Buffalo | |
Shea Theodore 2 | Points | Sam Reinhart 3 |
Tomas Nosek 1 | Goals | Sam Reinhart 1 |
Shea Theodore 2 | Assists | Sam Reinhart 2 |
Reilly Smith 1 | Power Play Goals | Sam Reinhart 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Marc-Andre Fleury .880 | Save Percentage | Linus Ullmark .923 |
Marc-Andre Fleury 22 | Saves | Linus Ullmark 24 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Vegas | 26 | 2 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 8 | 24 |
Buffalo | 26 | 4 | 2-3 | 2-3 | 8 | 28 |