Sabres score 7, defeat Ducks to end skid at 4

ANAHEIM --The Buffalo Sabres ended a four-game skid with a 7-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Wednesday.

Peyton Krebs, Tyson Jost, Dylan Cozens, Alex Tuch and Casey Mittelstadt each had a goal and an assist, and Eric Comrie made 19 saves for the Sabres (27-22-4), who were 0-3-1 during the skid.
"It felt like we were back into a rhythm as far as five guys playing together from one shift to the next shift," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "I know they were very excited about that feeling."
Cam Fowler scored two goals, Kevin Shattenkirk had a goal and an assist, and Lukas Dostal made 37 saves in his first NHL start since Dec. 23 for the Ducks (17-32-6), who have allowed 20 goals in a three-game losing streak.
"We're certainly going to be getting everybody's best," Shattenkirk said. "[Opponents] are going to probably feel like they can come in here, and these are two points that they have to have. We just have to make that job harder on them."

The Sabres outshot the Ducks 19-3 in the first period while taking a 2-0 lead.
Jost banked the puck off Dostal's right pad from below the goal line for a 1-0 lead at 6:08.
Anaheim got its first shot on goal while clearing the puck on a power play with 4:40 left in the first period. Tage Thompson scored 38 seconds later while still on the power play for a 2-0 lead at 15:58. It was his fourth goal in seven games.
The Ducks were getting outshot 23-4 when Shattenkirk scored his first goal of the season off a rush to cut it to 2-1 at 6:37 of the second period. He had not scored since March 31, 2022 (61 games).
"It was, personally, nice to get that one off my shoulders," Shattenkirk said.

Fowler tied it 2-2 at 7:48 when his wrist shot glanced off the inside edge of the post with Derek Grant providing a screen and made it 3-2 at 13:08 when he scored on a rebound.
"We started moving our feet a little bit, playing on our toes," Fowler said of the second period. "We sat back quite a bit in the first period and let them dictate the pace of the game, and that's not the recipe for success."
The Sabres only trailed for 35 seconds before Krebs tied it 3-3 off a feed from Jack Quinn at 13:43.
Krebs was moved up to the third line with Mittelstadt and Quinn before the game.
"You know when you give them the puck, they're going to make some plays," Krebs said of Mittelstadt and Quinn. "I just tried to make sure I was hard defensively so I could get them the puck, and they did their thing."
Mittelstadt scored short side on a wrist shot from the right face-off circle to move Buffalo back ahead 4-3 at 18:03.
"After we fall behind 3-2, our guys wanted to get back out there," Granato said. "That kind of exemplified how dialed in our guys were tonight and how determined they were."

Tuch scored after exiting the penalty box to make it 5-3 at 6:13 of the third period.
Zemgus Girgensons scored off another rush to extend the lead to 6-3 at 11:46, and Cozens scored at 18:53 for the 7-3 final.
"We came out in the second and obviously responded, but they answered back," Shattenkirk said. "That's something we have to be prepared for as well. Teams aren't going to just roll over and let us have that win once we go up by a goal."
NOTES:The Sabres are 5-2-0 on the road against Pacific Division teams this season. The last time they won at least five road games against the Pacific was in 2017-18 (5-2-1). They are also 11-2-2 on the road against Western Conference teams this season. ... Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Dahlin had two assists, The Sabres are 15-2-0 this season when he has at least two points. ... Thompson has 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) in his past 18 games. He leads the NHL with 17 first-period goals. ... Anaheim has been outshot 56-16 in the first period of the past three games. … Grant had two assists in his 400th NHL game. … Shattenkirk and Fowler became the first Anaheim defensemen age 31 or older to score in the same game since Feb. 6, 2013 (Francois Beauchemin, Sheldon Souray).