Tage Thompson scored a pair of third-period goals to cap off his eighth-career hat trick as the Buffalo Sabres pulled away for a 6-3 win over the visiting Boston Bruins on Sunday night.
Buffalo (34-36-6, 74 points) trailed 2-0 after one period but scored the final four goals of the game — one in the second and three in the third — to post its second win in as many nights and fourth in a row.
The hat trick was Thompson’s second of the season against Boston, giving him a four-game scoring streak and a team-high 43 goals on the season.
Jason Zucker scored what turned out to be the winning goal at 1:59 of the third.
Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin each recorded a goal and an assist while Peyton Krebs and Bowen Byram dished out two assists apiece. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 17 saves for the Sabres.
Elias Lindholm, Morgan Geekie and Casey Mittelstadt scored for Boston (31-38-9, 71 points), which broke a 10-game losing streak with a 5-1 win Saturday over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Boston’s David Pastrnak had three assists, becoming the first player in Bruins history to record points on 10 or more consecutive goals for the team.
Boston’s Joonas Korpisalo stopped 31 shots.
After Dahlin drove down the left side and cut inside to put a game-tying wrist shot past Korpisalo’s blocker with 1:29 left in the second period, Zucker gave the Sabres their first lead at 1:59 of the third.
For the go-ahead goal, Byram fed Zucker in transition and took a shot that deflected into the air off Korpisalo’s glove and trickled over the goal line.
Thompson buried Buffalo’s second breakaway of the final frame for an insurance goal at 5:51. The top-scoring Sabre took a stretch feed from Jiri Kulich down the center and put a top-shelf backhander past Korpisalo.
An empty-net goal with 45.4 seconds left completed Thompson’s hat trick.
Boston’s top line scored two first-period goals, picking up where it left off on Saturday in route to Pastrnak’s hat trick.
The Bruins needed just 3:37 to draw first blood, as Lindholm slipped a backhand through traffic at the net front after Pastrnak sent in a perfect slap pass from the left wing.
Geekie doubled the visitors’ advantage at 14:27. After Pastrnak forced a turnover, he gained the zone and hit Geekie as he surged down the slot and slipped it glove-side on Luukkonen.
In the middle period, Thompson sparked Buffalo when he banged in a loose puck at 7:35. Byram took an initial point shot, and Korpisalo was unable to squeeze the puck on multiple rebound attempts by Zach Benson before the goal was scored.
Tuch made it 2-2 at the 10:49 mark, screening the goaltender to deflect a Dahlin wrist shot from the left circle.
The Bruins took advantage of their first power play and made it 3-2 with 3:22 left in the second. Mittelstadt knocked home a Pastrnak centering pass that initially deflected off Luukkonen’s pad.
–Field Level Media
