Tage Thompson netted two goals in the third period to complete his eighth career hat trick, helping the Buffalo Sabres surge past the visiting Boston Bruins with a 6-3 victory on Sunday night.
Tage Thompson scored twice in the third period to complete his second hat trick of the season against Boston, lifting the Buffalo Sabres to a 6-3 comeback win over the visiting Bruins on Sunday night.
Buffalo (34-36-6, 74 points) trailed 2-0 after the opening period but responded with four unanswered goals—one in the second and three in the third—to earn its second win in as many nights and extend its winning streak to four games.
Thompson, who now leads the team with 43 goals, has scored in four straight games. His go-ahead goal in the third followed a game-tying wrist shot by Rasmus Dahlin late in the second, and he later added an insurance goal on a breakaway before sealing the win with an empty-netter.
Jason Zucker gave the Sabres their first lead just 1:59 into the third period, deflecting a shot that bounced off Joonas Korpisalo’s glove and trickled in. Alex Tuch and Dahlin each had a goal and an assist, while Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs tallied two assists apiece. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 18 saves in net for Buffalo.
For Boston (31-38-9, 71 points), Elias Lindholm, Morgan Geekie, and Casey Mittelstadt provided the scoring. David Pastrnak recorded three assists, becoming the first player in franchise history to register points on 10 consecutive Bruins goals. Korpisalo made 30 saves but struggled in the final two periods.
Boston came out strong, building a 2-0 lead in the first. Lindholm opened the scoring at 3:37, finishing a backhand off a slick slap pass from Pastrnak. Geekie made it 2-0 at 14:27 after Pastrnak forced a turnover and found him in stride for a glove-side finish.
Buffalo responded in the second period when Thompson poked in a loose puck at 7:35 after a scramble in front of the net. Dahlin tied it up with just under 90 seconds left in the frame, cutting inside and beating Korpisalo blocker side.
The Sabres took control from there, with Zucker’s early third-period goal, Thompson’s breakaway finish at 5:51, and finally the empty-netter with 45.4 seconds remaining to cap off the hat trick.
Tuch tied the game at 2-2 at 10:49 of the second period, positioning himself in front of the net to redirect a wrist shot from Rasmus Dahlin taken from the left circle.
Boston regained the lead on their first power play opportunity, going up 3-2 with 3:22 remaining in the period. Casey Mittelstadt capitalized by burying a centering feed from David Pastrnak that had bounced off Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s pad.