Sabres score 3 straight in 3rd period to rally past Ducks

BUFFALO -- The Buffalo Sabres scored three straight goals in the third period to rally for a 3-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

JJ Peterka, Alex Tuch and Henri Jokiharju scored, and Dylan Cozens had three assists for the Sabres (24-27-5), who are 6-1-0 in their past seven games. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 16 saves.

“I'd say three months ago it would've been a 5-1 loss, honestly,” Tuch said. “You see the maturity, you see the change, you see no one was down. We were pushing each other, we were pressing each other, we're making sure each other were held accountable and making sure we were doing the right things the whole time. It was awesome, like I said, it was contagious. We had line after line after line going out there and playing the right way.”

Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson scored, and Lukas Dostal made 32 saves for the Ducks (25-25-7), who are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games.

“They came out like gangbusters and we were very fortunate that we were ahead in the first,” Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. “They had multiple grade-A chances, and Lukas was awesome. And then the second period, we kind of settled in. Then they came out the first couple shifts (in the third period) and they were buzzing around our [defensive] zone and they got momentum from it, and they deserved it. They deserved to win the game, they deserved the goals. We couldn't match their pace and we couldn't match their work habits.”

Peterka cut the lead to 2-1 at 1:56 of the third period. Owen Power got the puck behind the net and found Cozens in the slot, who fed Peterka with quick pass for a one-timer from one knee in the right circle.

Tuch jammed in his own rebound to tie it 2-2 at 5:34. After his tight-angle shot from the right side got behind Dostal, he looped around the net and tapped it in at the left post.

“I saw him kind of get off balance there,” Tuch said. “I was honestly trying to get pucks into the crease. I thought we weren't doing that enough in the second period, so in the third I was just trying to get pucks on net and get bodies to the net. I think he went to go back to his post, so he was a little bit off balance and tried to throw it off his leg or anything and just got lucky.”

Jokiharju carried the puck down the right side to the bottom of the circle and put a wrist shot under the crossbar to give the Sabres a 3-2 lead at 9:31.

“It [stunk] to be down 2-0 there off penalty-kill goals, but we just kept battling,” Cozens said. “Even when things were going well, we just kept battling, kept working, we trusted that we were going to win this game and we never gave up.”

The Sabres outshot the Ducks 18-6 in the third period.

“Managed the puck a lot better,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “Pucks got deep. I thought we got inside that top of the circle, the goal-line area, and dominated the battles. … I know we got some crazy goals, but we got rewarded for putting pucks on net.”

McTavish gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead on a two-man advantage at 3:05 of the first period, beating Luukkonen under the glove with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Jackson LaCombe.

Carlsson made it 2-0 with another power-play goal at 4:58 of the second period. Pavel Mintyukov found the rebound of Carlsson’s initial shot in the high slot and sent a slap pass over to Carlsson, who put a one-timer through Luukkonen’s pads from the right circle.

“Unfortunately, there were mistakes that cost us,” Ducks captain Radko Gudas said. “I thought we held our ground for most of the night. Obviously it wasn't the best first period, then in the second, we were a lot better. But unfortunately in the third we did some mistakes that ended up costing us. We’ve got to do better job in front ‘Dosty’, too, when he's playing great like that and giving us chance to win these games.”

NOTES: The Ducks scored twice on the power play for the first time since Nov. 15 (6-4 win against the Detroit Red Wings). They entered the game 2-for-33 on the power play in their previous 16 games. … Carlsson’s goal was the 23rd of his NHL career, second most by a player age 20 or younger in Ducks history behind McTavish (32). … The Sabres got their first multigoal third-period comeback win of the season. … Buffalo has won six straight home games for the first time since Nov. 3-27, 2018.