Quinn gets 1st NHL hat trick, Sabres top Sharks for 8th win in row

BUFFALO -- Jack Quinn scored his first NHL hat trick and had an assist, and the Buffalo Sabres extended their winning streak to eight games with a 6-3 victory against the San Jose Sharks at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

The forwarded ended a 12-game goal drought in his first four-point game in the NHL.

“I think after the [Olympic] break I was actually playing pretty good and our line was having a ton of chances,” Quinn said. “It’s just we weren’t producing a ton, or at least I wasn’t. It was nice to turn the corner tonight.”

Rasmus Dahlin and Ryan McLeod each had three assists, and Jason Zucker had a goal and an assist for the Sabres (40-19-6). Alex Lyon made 17 saves.

The Sabres have multiple eight-game runs in a single season for the first time in their history. They won 10 straight from Dec. 9-31.

The Sabres extended their lead in the Atlantic Division to four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“We know every game is a new game and you have to get ready for the next one,” Dahlin said. “I think we've done a great job. I think that we work harder off the ice too and we make sure we're ready every game.”

Macklin Celebrini scored for the fourth straight game, and Alexander Wennberg had a goal and an assist for the Sharks (30-26-6), whose five-game point streak ended (3-0-2). Yaroslav Askarov made 20 saves.

The Sharks are one point behind the Seattle Kraken for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

“At the end of the day, I feel like we kind of hurt ourselves a little bit [with] turnovers, decision-making,” Wennberg said. “But, I mean, obviously not the game we talked about, coming up and have a great start to this road trip, and I feel like we let ourselves down. So, obviously disappointed in the result and how we played. So, learn from this and then just be better next game.”

Quinn gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 4:12 of the first period, burying a wrist shot under the bar from low in the right circle off a pass from Zucker on a 2-on-1. 

Alex Tuch tipped Dahlin’s point shot past Askarov blocker side to make it 2-0 at 5:39.

Celebrini cut it to 2-1 at 12:54. Will Smith intercepted Tuch’s clearing attempt and sent it over to Celebrini, who was alone in front to put a backhand under Lyon’s right arm.

Beck Malenstyn pushed it to 3-1 when he pushed a bouncing puck through Sam Dickinson’s legs, went around the defenseman to collect it and put it past Askarov’s glove at 4:59 of the second period.

With Askarov at the left of the crease following a save on a one-timer from Quinn, Zucker backhanded the rebound at the back door to increase it to 4-1 at 8:51.

Kiefer Sherwood narrowed it to 4-2 at 19:29 with a one-timer from the left circle that beat Lyon bar down on the far side for his NHL career-high 20th goal.

Quinn scored 42 seconds into the third, one-timing a feed from McLeod from the top of the slot past Askarov glove side to increase it to 5-2.

“Every practice, every day, he’s in here in the shooting room working on his game,” Malenstyn said. “He has such a knack for scoring, such a gift to be able to do it. He contorts his body in ways that I think my back would go out if I tried to, and what he can put on the puck is just incredible.”

Wennberg backhanded a shot from his knees from the slot on the power play that went past Lyon’s right pad to cut it to 5-3 at 6:56.

Quinn completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal at 17:14 for the 6-3 final.

“I think sometimes we think we're working hard, but that's a whole other level,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “That team works. They skate, they skate to close, they skate in all three zones, they skate with the puck to get on the attack. It's a good hockey team.”

NOTES: Celebrini’s goal was his 90th point of the season (33 goals, 57 assists), requiring the third-fewest games by a teenager in NHL history to reach the mark behind Sidney Crosby (54 games in 2006-07) and Wayne Gretzky (56 games in 1979-80).  … In addition to the four-game goal streak, Celebrini has a six-game point streak (eight points; four goals, four assists). … Defenseman Logan Stanley, acquired Thursday in a trade from the Winnipeg Jets, played 15:28 and had one hit in his Sabres debut. … Tage Thompson’s 11-game point streak ended.