Beck Malesntyn’s highlight-reel goal punctuated a strong second period for the Buffalo Sabres, who defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 at KeyBank Center on Sunday.
The win was Buffalo’s fourth in the past five games and brought its season points percentage back to .500 at 9-9-4.
The Sabres started strong against a Hurricanes team that entered the day atop the Eastern Conference standings. Alex Tuch scored a power-play goal to open the scoring 5:51 into the contest, and the Hurricanes – the NHL leader in shots per game – didn’t record their first shot until more than 10 minutes had ticked off the clock.
Jacob Bryson appeared to extend Buffalo’s lead later in the first period, but officials ruled Zach Benson committed goaltender interference on the play. The call stood even after a challenge by the Sabres, despite the fact that Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen had been able to reset after Benson had lightly contacted his foot.
Carolina tied the score 1-1 on a power-play goal from Shayne Gostisbehere, a potential momentum swinger, but Buffalo responded with second-period goals from Jack Quinn and Malenstyn to gain control of the game.
Malenstyn’s goal saw the winger skate into the puck with momentum in the neutral zone, pull a move to put the puck between the legs of Carolina’s Sebatian Aho, and bury his breakaway chance past Andersen. It was his second goal in the past four games.
Tage Thompson added an empty-net goal to extend his goal-scoring streak to six games, the longest by a Sabres player since Jason Pominville in 2006. Ryan McLeod had two assists for his second straight multi-point game.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen won his second straight game in goal with 29 saves.
Benson returned to the lineup after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury. He skated 16:56 and had an assist on Thompson’s empty-net goal.
The Sabres travel to Pittsburgh to play the Penguins on Wednesday. Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7.
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