"We were definitely deserving of a win there," Thompson said. "I think, obviously, the results, they usually take care of themselves. Sometimes you're not going to get the results at the end of the game, but regardless of that, I think we can all look each other in the eyes and say that we gave it our all. I think we deserved it and we came out on top, so it was good."
Craig Anderson made 23 saves for the Sabres (23-33-8), who have won three in a row for the first time since opening the season 3-0-0 Oct. 14-19.
"We're playing much better than we were earlier in the year," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "But absolutely, the psyche component didn't affect us like it would've a couple months ago, and we went right back to execution. Our execution's been really good. There was a little bit of a period, a sequence in the second period where I thought we lost a little, there was a little swing in momentum, but it was only a couple shifts and we got right back to our game. …
"We talked about that this morning, the ability for us to play our game and dictate the pace and sort of make them play our game. They were as you would expect. They were very, very efficient and good on the power play [2-for-2] and we weren't quite as good on the penalty kill."