Eichel scores twice, Sabres hand Blues third loss in row

BUFFALO -- Jack Eichel scored twice and extended his NHL career-high point streak to 14 games in the Buffalo Sabres' 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

Sam Reinhart and Johan Larsson each had a goal and an assist, and Victor Olofsson had two assists for the Sabres (15-11-6), who have won two in a row for the first time since Oct. 19 and 22. Linus Ullmark made 28 saves.
"I thought we broke out well," Eichel said. "There were a few shifts here or there where they had extended zone time, but for the most part, I thought we did a really good job of packing it in, playing in front of our net and keeping them to the outside. Linus made some great saves. He was tremendous tonight as he's been lately. He's been the backbone of this team, he's given us a chance to win every night."
WATCH: [All Blues vs. Sabres highlights]
Troy Brouwer and Alex Pietrangelo scored, and Jake Allen made 28 saves for the Blues (18-8-6), who have lost three in a row.
"We had some real good chances tonight," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "I thought their goalie played well, made some great saves. We hit three posts, you know, that's the difference. In saying that, we've got to find a way to win. We've got to fight through this adversity. You're going to get bumps in the road like this. You've got to grind through it and get through it."

Reinhart gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead when he redirected Olofsson's shot 18 seconds into the first period.
Brouwer tied it 1-1 at 3:37 off Ivan Barbashev's pass from below the goal line.
Larsson gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead with nine seconds left in the period on the rebound of Zach Bogosian's point shot that bounced off the end boards.
Pietrangelo tied it 2-2 from the left face-off circle at 3:52 of the third period off a feed from David Perron.
Eichel put the Sabres ahead 3-2 at 5:46 after carrying the puck out from behind the net.
"We played patient, we took our chances when we had it, got in on the forecheck and defended when we had to," Larsson said.
Zemgus Girgensons scored into an empty net with 51 seconds left to make it 4-2, and Eichel's empty-net goal made it 5-2 with two seconds remaining.
"The confidence is in here that we can play in any situation," Brouwer said. "If we get down a goal or two, I feel like we can push back and tie the game like we did tonight. We weren't able to finish it off. When you are struggling to find those goals, you want to be able to play from ahead, obviously."

They said it

"We had some chances to capitalize. We had spurts in our game that I thought were good, but I think we all agree in this locker room that it wasn't consistent enough and execution wasn't sharp. We needed to find a little momentum here to build. I think we should still have a lot of confidence in ourselves in this group. We've got a good team in here and a lot of belief in ourselves, especially going back home now for three or four games in a row. Start building something here." -- Blues goalie Jake Allen, referring to St. Louis beginning a four-game homestand Thursday
"I think we're starting to form an identity. I think with the confidence Ralph's instilling in us and the way he wants us to play, it's evident the way we can play every night to give ourselves a chance to win. We take care of the puck, we do the little things. We've got two great goalies (Ullmark and Carter Hutton) that have given us a chance to win. Our back end's been playing really hard, and we're getting some timely scoring." -- Sabres captain Jack Eichel on the impact of coach Ralph Krueger, who is in his first season with Buffalo

Need to know

Eichel's empty-net goal was the 13th of his NHL career, tying him with Gilbert Perreault and Miroslav Satan for the most in Sabres history. It was also his 20th goal of the season in his 32nd game, the fewest games he's needed to reach the mark in the NHL. Eichel has scored at least 20 in each of his five NHL seasons. … Olofsson has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in his past 17 games. … Pietrangelo joined Al MacInnis (127) as the only defensemen to score 100 goals with St. Louis.

What's next

Blues: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-MW, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Sabres: Host the Nashville Predators on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-TN, NHL.TV)