Hertl, Sharks hang on, send Sabres to fifth straight loss

BUFFALO -- Tomas Hertl had a goal and an assist for the San Jose Sharks in a 3-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

"I thought that 'Tommy' showed amazing leadership tonight," Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. "And not just because he scored the game-winner. But he was sacrificing, he was blocking shots. His changes, he was making smart offensive zone changes. He was making sure on the bench, holding guys and pumping guys up and positive encouragement to other guys. He was just very part of the game tonight. He was very engaged, both verbally, and with his game."
Matt Nieto and Timo Meier scored for the Sharks (18-16-1), who won for the first time in three games. Adin Hill made 37 saves in his first start since returning from COVID-19 protocol. He allowed two goals on seven shots in relief in a loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday in his first game since Dec. 16.
"It was nice to see a lot of rubber, a lot of shots, get a feel for the puck in the net," Hill said. "It was good and obviously getting the two points is huge. … Hopefully we can start stringing some together here."

Jeff Skinner and Zemgus Girgensons scored, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 18 saves for the Sabres (10-18-6), who have lost five in a row (0-3-2).
"It was not good," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "We had some guys that made some mistakes that shouldn't have been made. So I don't want to fault the whole team for it. The first goal 'UPL' couldn't see. It was our own guy in the way. The frustration you hear in my voice wasn't the entire team. It was just some instances they were able to take advantage of.
"And then the rest of the game, obviously I've talked a lot this year, you have to be able to overcome your mistakes and you can see why. Every team makes mistakes. We made mistakes and we couldn't dig ourselves out from those mistakes."
Nieto gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 12:27 of the first period. Nick Bonino won a puck battle along the left wall and passed to Andrew Cogliano at the left of the net, who quickly passed to Nieto in the slot.
"It just started from a great forecheck," Nieto said. "'Bones' wins a battle there, gets it to 'Cogs' at the net-front and he makes a really good pass to me in the slot. Great heads-up play by him and I was able to squeak one by."

Meier scored on a long shot from the left side inside the blue line that went off the far post and in to make it 2-0 at 13:44.
Hertl extended it to 3-0 at 17:24. Alexander Barabanov won a race for the puck in the neutral zone and passed to a trailing Hertl, who scored from the slot.
Skinner cut it to 3-1 at 7:56 of the second period, picking up the puck along the right wall and skating to the high slot before scoring top corner on Hill.
"I just think we need more urgency, and that's not really rust, maybe," Skinner said. "We were sort of waiting for plays to develop and as a result we were kind of on our heels for a bit there."
The Sabres pushed in the third period, outshooting the Sharks 22-5 and drawing two penalties.
Girgensons made it 3-2 on the power play at 18:14 of the third period, jamming in a rebound at the left side of the net with Luukkonen pulled for the extra attacker.
"It's tough to take confidence back when you give it up," Granato said. "We elevated. We competed harder. I really, really pushed our guys at the end of the period. I was disappointed. I didn't think we were competing hard enough. We had some individual errors, but I wanted to make sure we didn't dwell on it. … We played with too much fear in the first period, which is hesitation. We needed to get rid of that. We did a better job the second two. All the frustration you hear in my voice is that."
NOTES: Hertl has 15 points (nine goals, six assists) in his past 11 games. … Meier has a goal and four assists in a three-game point streak. He has three goals and five assists in his past six games. … Skinner has 11 points (nine goals, two assists) in his past 11 games against the Sharks. … Forward Ryan MacInnis played 10:00 and had two shots on goal in his Sabres debut.