Sabres take lead in third period, hold on to top Sharks

Alex Tuch broke a third-period tie and James Reimer made 31 saves in his Sabres debut as Buffalo beat the host San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Saturday night.

Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and an assist and Bowen Byram had two assists for the Sabres, who swept a three-game road swing through California.

Fabian Zetterlund and Luke Kunin scored for the Sharks, who have lost three straight games. Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves.

Tuch scored short-handed to give the Sabres a 3-2 lead at 5:27 of the third, cutting off Mikael Granlund's pass attempt and taking the puck on a breakaway to beat Blackwood five-hole from the right circle.

Dylan Cozens tied the game at 2 at 2:07 of the third period, taking a feed high in the zone from Dahlin and one-timing it from above the slot to beat a screened Blackwood stick side.

Zetterlund gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at 9:59 of the first period. William Eklund sent the puck to Jake Walman at the point. Reimer made a pad save, but the rebound was there for Zetterlund to collect in front and put past the netminder.

Peyton Krebs tied the game, 1-1, at 11:03. Byram was just inside his own blue line to cut off Will Smith's attempt to send the puck in, and he sent it up to Krebs at the Sharks' blue line for a two-on-one. The center took it to the left circle before firing a wrist shot into the far top corner of the net.

Kunin put the hosts ahead 2-1 at 4:07 of the second period when he took a feed from Tyler Toffoli in front of the net and slipped a backhand past Reimer's right pad.

Reimer kept the deficit at one as Buffalo struggled to generate much through the first half of the middle frame. He made a highlight-reel stop on Macklin Celebrini, getting his left arm behind his back while on his stomach to snare a shot from the bottom of the right circle.

Dahlin scored an empty-net goal from his own end with one second left in the third period for the 4-2 final.

--Field Level Media