RECAP: Blackhawks Drop Road Matchup Against Sabres in Buffalo

BUFFALO -- Alex Tuch had four assists, and Josh Doan scored twice for the Buffalo Sabres in a 9-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at KeyBank Center on Friday.

“I thought we got to our forecheck right away. We were hounding pucks all night,” Tuch said. “We were playing quick in the neutral zone and then, defensively, I don’t think we gave them too much. Once you get multiple lines getting some good scoring opportunities and cashing in on some goals there, it’s really easy to roll them over and have everyone playing and playing well.”

Jason Zucker had a goal and two assists in his return to the lineup, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 20 saves for the Sabres (8-9-4), who have won three of their past four games. Tage Thompson, Ryan McLeod, Jack Quinn, Bowen Byram and Jacob Bryson each had a goal and an assist, and Rasmus Dahlin had two assists for Buffalo, which rebounded from a 6-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday.

“I was comfortable with the way, really, every line was playing,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “They were all producing. I thought if you look at the energy every line brought, a little unfortunate with a couple of their goals, but it was a really good defensive effort, too, at the same time tonight.”

Tyler Bertuzzi scored two goals, Connor Bedard and Sam Rinzel each had two assists, and Arvid Soderblom made 21 saves for the Blackhawks (10-7-4), who have lost two in a row after a six-game point streak (5-0-1). They lost 3-2 to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

“Obviously a tough one for us,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “We didn’t have it physically. I thought they played great, actually, so first off I give them tons of credit. They were ready to play; they played fast, they played hard, were on top of us all over the ice.

“… I thought we didn’t have our best. Sometimes when you don’t have your best you have to make sure mentally you’re dialed in and we weren’t dialed in enough.”

Doan gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 13:57 of the first period when he put his own rebound past Soderblom’s left pad.

“They’re in a spot last night where they lost a close one, and I think when you get an early one or two on them in a situation like this, it’s hard as a group to stay positive,” Doan said. “And I think, at the other end of it, we were a team that was a little bit frustrated with how we performed (against Calgary). I think you just catch the tail ends of both of those things, and sometimes stuff like that adds up.”

Zucker, who missed eight games because of an illness, made it 2-0 at 15:19. Quinn dropped a no-look backhand pass to Zucker, who snapped it over Soderblom’s arm from the left face-off circle.

“He’s an awesome guy to have in the room,” Thompson said of Zucker. “He’s been around a little bit longer than most of the guys in here. He’s got some experience and a good calming presence in the room. Obviously he backs it up with his play on the ice. Definitely missed him and I think everyone’s excited that he was back.”

Byram scored in the slot to push the lead to 3-0 on the power play at 17:33, redirecting Tuch’s diagonal, cross-ice pass under Soderblom’s right arm.

“When he’s skating, he’s a tough man to track down,” Ruff said of Tuch. “I think skating creates room. When he creates room, he makes good decisions. Yeah, I thought we got a heck of a game from him.”

Bertuzzi cut it to 3-1 at 18:12 when he backhanded a loose puck in front to the glove side.

McLeod extended the lead to 4-1 at 5:42 of the second period, putting a wrist shot under Soderblom’s right arm from the right hash marks. Eight seconds later, Mattias Samuelsson’s shot from the point went off Chicago defenseman Louis Crevier to make it 5-1 at 5:50.

Alex Vlasic beat a screened Luukkonen from above to right circle to cut it to 5-2 at 14:45, but Doan responded by scoring short side from the right circle to increase the lead to 6-2 at 17:31.

Bertuzzi pulled the Blackhawks within 6-3 with a power-play goal at 24 seconds of the third period. He tipped Bedard’s point shot while screening Luukkonen.

Bertuzzi has nine goals in his past six games.

“I think he’s played great all year,” Blashill said of the forward. “I think he’s done it right all year, I think he’s led by example. The way that he’s approached the game … he’s been a real favorite of mine as a player for a long time, and he continues to be.”

Thompson then made it 7-3 at 1:56 when he drove to the net and slipped the puck under Soderblom’s pads to extend his goal streak to five games (five goals).

Quinn roofed a wrist shot under the bar for an 8-3 lead at 7:07, and Bryson made it a 9-3 final at 16:22, getting to a loose puck in the slot and tucking it around Soderblom at the left post.

“It just wasn’t good enough,” Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy said. “Unacceptable on our part to not be prepared mentally to play and even more so for ‘Sody,’ to hang him out to dry is unacceptable. … There’s no excuse for how we played tonight.”

NOTES: Bedard’s first assist was the 100th of his NHL career (171 games) and his 30th point of the season in his 21st game. He became the youngest player (20 years, 127 days) in Blackhawks history to reach 100 assists, breaking the mark set by Eddie Olczyk (20 years, 141 days on Jan. 4, 1987). He’s also the second Chicago player in past 30 years to reach 30 points in 21 or fewer games, joining Patrick Kane (19 games in 2015-16 and 20 games in 2020-21). Bedard has 13 goals and 18 assists this season. … The Sabres’ two goals in eight seconds were their fastest since they scored twice in six seconds against the New York Rangers on April 19, 2013. … Tuch’s second assist was his 400th NHL point. He has 402 points (174 goals, 228 assists) in 557 games. … Samuelsson scored his fifth goal of the season, setting a career high.