Alex Tuch produced his first career hat trick to help the visiting Buffalo Sabres earn a 6-3 win against the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt each added a goal and an assist while Rasmus Dahlin also scored for the Sabres. Buffalo’s Vinnie Hinostroza had three assists, and Owen Power and Jacob Bryson had two assists apiece. Eric Comrie made 40 saves for the victory.
Andrew Mangiapane, Trevor Lewis and Nikita Zadorov scored for Calgary. Jacob Markstrom allowed three goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Dan Vladar after the first period. Vladar made 17 saves in relief.
Mangiapane gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 4:21 of the first period. Nazem Kadri sent a loose puck from behind the goal line and reached Mangiapane, who connected from the slot.
Cozens tied it 1-1 at 6:34 of the first. He was stopped by Markstrom on a backhand attempt from in front, but the goalie left the puck loose behind him as he pulled his legs forward, giving Cozens the chance to poke it home.
Dahlin put the Sabres ahead 2-1 at 10:49 of the opening period when JJ Peterka found him streaking into the slot. The defenseman has scored in each of the Sabres’ first four games, the longest season-opening goal streak by a blue-liner in NHL history.
Mittelstadt made it 3-1 with a short-handed tally at 13:10 of the first, breaking in after Hinostroza backhanded a floater out of the Sabres’ zone.
Tuch extended his goal streak to three games 46 seconds into the second period, taking a feed from Power in the high slot to push the lead to 4-1.
Lewis capitalized on a fortunate bounce to narrow it to 4-2 with three seconds remaining in the middle frame. A rebound from Comrie bounced out and hit the referee in the left circle, where Jonathan Huberdeau got his stick on it before went got over to Lewis in front.
Zadorov brought the Flames to within one from the left circle at 1:09 of the third.
Tuch made it 5-3 on the power play at 5:41 with a toe drag around Mangiapane in the lower right circle. He completed the hat trick with an empty-net tally at 18:35.
Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju left the game in the first period after taking a puck to the face and did not return.
–Field Level Media
