The visiting Buffalo Sabres defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-3 on Sunday, with Ryan McLeod scoring a goal and dishing out three assists and James Reimer recording 33 saves. McLeod made four points for the first time in his career. The Sabres (28-35-6, 62 points), who had dropped their previous two games, added two assists from Jacob Bernard-Docker.
The Jets (48-19-4, 100 points) had won four of their last five games and were led by goals from Nikolaj Ehlers, Colin Miller, and Nino Niederreiter. Eric Comrie recorded twelve saves.
At 9:15 of the first period, Buffalo took a 1-0 lead thanks to JJ Peterka. Bernard-Docker moved the puck up the right wall to Peterka after McLeod won the faceoff back. After that, the forward moved it to the right circle and shot Comrie’s glove with his wrist.
At 2:05 of the second period, Niederreiter’s cross-crease feed for Vladislav Namesntikov bounced off the skate of Sabres player Beck Malenstyn and into the net, tying the score at 1-1 on the penalty play.
At 18:46, Buffalo took a 2-1 lead when Rasmus Dahlin hit a one-timer from above the right circle off a pass from Bernard-Docker. In front of a sizable group of family and friends, Manitoba native Tyson Kozak pushed it to 3-1 on the power play at 7:13 of the third period. Mattias Samuelsson’s point attempt was saved by Comrie, but Kozak was ahead of him and swept the rebound past him.
After 28 seconds, Miller scored to bring the Jets within 3-2. Miller took it down low before hitting a wrist shot after Mark Scheifele saw the defenseman entering the zone for a pass.
Alex Tuch scored Buffalo’s fourth short-handed goal of the season at 13:21 after Reimer got his blocker up to thwart Scheifele. Tuch took a pass from McLeod for a partial break.
At 16:32, Ehlers made a slap shot from the left circle off the rush to trim the score to 4-3. At 19:13, McLeod won the 5-3 final with a backhand that went the whole length of the ice into the empty net. Due to a lower-body injury, Buffalo forward Jordan Greenway exited the game late in the first period and never came back.