At the Horn | Sharks 6 - Sabres 2

The Buffalo Sabres saw their winless streak extend to four games with a 6-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

San Jose received goals from Timothy Liljegren, Nico Sturm, William Eklund, Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Tyler Toffoli. Buffalo entered the third period trailing by one but was outscored 4-1 over the final 20 minutes. Alexandar Georgiev earned the victory in net with 20 saves.

JJ Peterka scored for the Sabres to extend his point streak to six games. Tage Thompson added his 30th goal of the season.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 23 of 28 shots.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Period

The Sabres successfully killed two minor penalties to emerge from the first period in a scoreless tie.

San Jose led 10-5 in shots in the period, four of which came on its two power plays. Celebrini led the way with seven shot attempts, including one that hit the post and another that deflected off the crossbar during the final minute.

Second Period

Liljegren buried a shot from in tight to open the scoring for the Sharks just 1:01 into the period. The shot caught a piece of Luukkonen’s glove and dribbled across the goal line just as Owen Power cleared it from the net. The play was originally ruled no goal, but play was blown dead and the goal was awarded shortly after.

Peterka buried a one-timer on the power play to even the score, but the Sharks regained the lead on Sturm’s goal with 1:38 remaining. The goal was the product of a fortuitous bounce off an errant pass from Colin Graf, which deflected off Dylan Cozens’ leg and directly to Sturm in the slot.

Third Period

San Jose extended its lead to 3-1 just 2:19 into the period when Eklund squeezed a shot from nearly along the goal line inside the near post.

Thompson buried a one-timer from the left circle for his 30th goal of the season to bring the Sabres back within one, but Celebrini scored on a far-side shot from the right circle just 1:03 later to restore the Sharks’ two-goal lead.

Smith added the next goal on a 4-on-2 rush, then Toffoli capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with 1:59 remaining.

PHOTO GALLERIES

UP NEXT

The Sabres head to Tampa to open a two-game road trip on Thursday against the Lightning. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m.