Flames score 3 in third to sink Sabres

Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri each had a goal and two assists for the Calgary Flames, who used three third-period goals to cruise past the visiting Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Thursday.

Jakob Pelletier had a goal and an assist, and Dustin Wolf made 32 saves for the Flames.

Mattias Samuelsson had a goal and an assist for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 21 saves.

Huberdeau scored short-handed to give Calgary a 1-0 lead at 12:00 of the first period. After Rasmus Dahlin couldn't contain the Flames' clearing attempt at the blue line, Huberdeau collected the puck in the neutral zone and took off on a breakaway, sliding it under Luukkonen's right pad.

Samuelsson tied it 1-1 at 2:50 of the second period. Henri Jokiharju dished a feed over to him at the left point, and Samuelsson directed a wrist shot through traffic that deflected off the stick of Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson and beat Wolf over his right arm.

Tage Thompson put the Sabres ahead 2-1 at 7:18. Samuelsson took the puck up to the half wall and fired a shot that Thompson tipped past Wolf's left arm for his 22nd score of the season.

Kadri pulled Calgary even at 10:31. Pelletier collected a blocked shot in the defensive zone and sent it up to Huberdeau, who took it across the Buffalo blue line and waited for an onrushing Kadri. Kadri, coming in with speed, took it to the right of the net, where he slipped a backhand by Luukkonen to tie it 2-2.

Pelletier made it 3-2 in favor of the Flames at 3:29 of the third period. Brayden Pachal's wrist shot from above the slot deflected off Pelletier's stick before hitting the leg of Sabres defenseman Owen Power and redirecting past Luukkonen.

Yegor Sharangovich scored an empty-net goal at 17:15, and Mikael Backlund added another empty-net tally short-handed at 17:52 for the 5-2 final.

--Field Level Media