Sabres top Sharks in OT for 10th win in row

BUFFALO --Jeff Skinner scored at 1:41 of overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres their 10th straight win, 3-2 against the San Jose Sharks at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

Martin Jones came out to the low slot to poke the puck away from Rasmus Dahlin, but the loose puck went to Skinner, who beat Jones blocker side with a backhand. The goal was Skinner's 19th of the season and 18th in his past 18 games.
"He just has a knack to be at the right place at the right time," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "He's good in traffic, he finds those open areas, he jumps on loose pucks. He knows where to put the puck obviously by the goals he scored."
WATCH: [All Sharks vs. Sabres highlights]
Rasmus Ristolainen and Nathan Beaulieu scored, and Carter Hutton made 36 saves for Buffalo (17-6-2). The Sabres winning streak tied the longest in their history; they also won 10 straight from Jan. 4-23, 1984, and Oct. 4-26, 2006.

"We just try and keep improving," Skinner said. "I think that each night we sort of had guys step up and make key plays at big moments. There's still things we want to work on in our game. You have to continue to do that in this League. Teams are too good. You have to always be looking to improve."
Joe Pavelski scored twice, and Jones made 28 saves for San Jose (12-8-5), which has lost two straight.
"(They've won) 10 in a row, the goalie's been hot, that's a good point for us," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "We stuck with it and found a way to get it to overtime. Disappointed we didn't get two, but we did a lot of good stuff."
Ristolainen skated up the left side before putting the puck through his legs, getting around Sharks defenseman Brent Burns and beating Jones glove side to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 14:42 of the second period.
"I just tried to take the puck to the net. I got a step in front of him and took it to the net. Lucky it went in," Ristolainen said.

Beaulieu scored to make it 2-0 at 4:14 of the third period, receiving a cross-crease pass from Sam Reinhart and finishing at the left post.
Pavelski cut it to 2-1 at 11:29 on a one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Burns on a 4-on-4. He tied it 2-2 at 16:42, tucking in a wraparound just inside the left post on the power play.
"It's just the way our game was set up tonight, we kind of kept coming. We had chances throughout the game," Pavelski said.

They said it

"We got shut out the other night (6-0 loss to Vegas Golden Knights), but all in all that game wasn't us. Tonight was better. It was a good game, we had some good chances. [Hutton] played well over there. Jones was great for us, made a couple of huge saves at the end there to keep us in it." -- Sharks captain Joe Pavelski

"I'm really happy for us, but really happy for [the fans]. They've been supporting us all these years when I've been here. Six years, tough years. And it feels great to see them happy and the building's been rocking the last few games." -- Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen

Need to know

Buffalo leads the NHL with 36 points. Nine of its wins during its streak has been by one goal. The Pittsburgh Penguins are the only other team in NHL history that have posted as many one-goal victories as part of a winning streak of at least 10 games, doing so in a 15-game streak from March 2-30, 2013. … Buffalo is 12-0-2 when scoring first this season.

What's next

Sharks:At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Sabres: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, MSG-B, NHL.TV)