Tuch’s hat trick leads Sabres past Blackhawks

A three-day holiday break interrupted the Buffalo Sabres’ schedule, but not their momentum following Monday’s blowout victory on Long Island.

Beating the Chicago Blackhawks 6-2 on Friday at KeyBank Center, the Sabres earned a second straight win thanks to a dominant first period and Alex Tuch’s third career hat trick.

“It’s awesome,” said Tuch, who’s up to 12 goals this season. “Doing it in front of the home crowd was that much more special and it was great to get the win in front of them.”

On Tuch’s first goal, his deflection of a Tage Thompson one-timer just barely leaked through Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek and across the goal line.

His second goal came at a pivotal point in the third period; moments after Seth Jones had narrowed Buffalo’s lead to 4-2, Tuch went to the box for tripping and gave Chicago its only power play of the night.

The Sabres killed it off, though, and after his minor penalty expired, Tuch carried the puck through the neutral zone, veered toward the right circle and beat backup goalie Arvid Soderblom, who’d entered to begin the second period, with a wide-angle shot.

“To get that kill and get a couple saves we got on that kill was an important moment in the game,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff.

“Honestly, that’s a really bad penalty on my part,” Tuch said. “They’re only down by a couple goals there … but great kill and I was lucky enough to capitalize on a little breakdown at the end of the penalty kill there.”

Tuch completed the hat trick – his first on home ice – 15:06 into the third, stealing a puck at the defensive blue line and freezing Soderblom on the breakaway. Hats rained down from a packed house at KeyBank Center.

“I’m glad we were able to get a win and get a lot of goals for them, too,” Tuch said. “I heard them chanting for seven, so that’s always a good sign when they’re asking for more.

“It’s been a tough road the last couple months for us. To see the crowd and the city stick with us I think is huge. That really meant a lot to all of us and hopefully there will be a lot more wins in this building going forward.”

Here’s more from the win:

1. Chicago’s Frank Nazar hit the post a couple minutes in, but the Blackhawks didn’t officially record a shot on goal until the 13:11 mark of a first period dominated by Buffalo.

After setting the tone on Long Island with a two-goal opening frame, the Sabres on Friday built an early 4-0 lead, aided by an 11-2 advantage in shots and 12-4 in scoring chances.

“Only giving up two shots in the first period, I think, showed our willingness to play good defense, to get pucks in, to not make mistakes that we’ve been prone to make during that 13-game losing streak,” Tuch said.

Zach Benson opened the scoring at 9:51 and Tuch followed at 12:23. Jack Quinn and Dylan Cozens scored on the rush at 12:38 and 19:18, respectively, to pad Buffalo’s advantage.

“That’s when we’re at our best, when we’re moving quick in transition and attacking off the rush,” Cozens said.

Hosting the first post-holiday game certainly contributed to Buffalo’s quick start – the NHL prohibits teams from traveling during the three-day break, so the Blackhawks flew to Buffalo on Friday morning prior to their 11:30 a.m. skate.

“You don’t want to give them anything, and they obviously had it a little harder with the travel this morning,” Cozens said. “So we knew that, and we just go out there and start off simple and see what happens. We did a good job.”

“You really don’t know what you’re going to get after three days off, but I think they just proved that they were ready to come out and play,” Ruff said.

2. Buffalo’s second line of Cozens, Quinn, and JJ Peterka, reunited entering Monday’s game, enjoyed another strong performance.

Cozens and Quinn tallied primary assists on one another’s first-period, odd-man rush goals.

Peterka, with the secondary assist on Quinn’s goal, has tied a career high with a six-game point streak, totaling two goals and six assists during that span.

“I think playing with those two guys is so easy,” said Cozens, who has a goal and three assists in the last two games. “I know where they’re always going to be, they know where the other guys are gonna be. So yeah, we’ve just got to keep playing good defense and not cheating for offense. And we’ll get those transitions, we’ll get those turnovers and go the other way with it.”

In 11:46 with that line on the ice at 5-on-5, Buffalo generated 13 shot attempts, eight scoring chances and two goals.

“They seem to be gaining a little bit of traction when it comes to plays up ice, spreading the zone out, playing on a bigger piece of ice,” Ruff said of both the Cozens line and Buffalo’s third line of Benson, Jiri Kulich and Peyton Krebs.

Quinn, a healthy scratch for parts of the winless streak, has now notched multiple points in three of his last five games – those six points (4+2) are tied for the most productive five-game span of the 23-year-old’s career.

“He’s such a great player and he’s got such a great shot, so when he has that confidence, he’s an unbelievable player, and it’s so fun to play with him,” Cozens said of Quinn. “He’s so smart, and he’s great at finishing.”

3. Buffalo’s back-to-back wins have coincided with Dahlin’s return from back spasms, and that’s no coincidence.

The Sabres’ captain recorded six assists in the two games, including a pair on Friday – both of which further demonstrated his offensive-zone playmaking ability. Dahlin’s knack for holding onto the puck, moving his feet and creating passing and shooting lanes led directly to the first two Sabres goals.

On Buffalo’s opening tally, Dahlin sauced a pass from the right point to an uncovered Benson at the back door. And goal No. 2 resulted from Dahlin’s receiving a firm pass in traffic at the blue line, skating to open ice and passing across the zone to set up Thompson’s one timer.

“This is as good as he’s looked all year, these last couple games,” Ruff said. “I think the move to keep him out of the back-to-back really helped him.

“There was a time in the first period where he was just a one-man breakout machine. Just kind of took the game in his own hands and said, ‘Here, I’m going to lead the way.’”

With Dahlin on the ice at 5-on-5, the Sabres owned a 26-8 edge in shot attempts, 16-3 in shots on goal and 4-1 in goals.

“He’s the guy that’s gonna propel us forward into playing the right way and he’s been leading by example,” Tuch said. “It’s been great to see.”

4. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started in net for the Sabres and earned his second straight win, stopping 15 of 17 shots.

Chicago didn’t generate much offensive pressure, but despite facing just two first-period shots, Luukkonen remained locked in and made a handful of key saves to help fend off the Blackhawks’ comeback bid.

Up next

The Sabres begin a four-game road trip Sunday afternoon at the St. Louis Blues.

Coverage on MSG begins at 2:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 3.