BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Linus Ullmark stopped 31 shots and the Buffalo Sabres snapped an 18-game skid — the NHL’s longest in 17 years — with a 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.
Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was the first off the bench as the final horn sounded and led a line of Sabres players high-fiving Ullmark in an arena without fans.
It was the first win for Buffalo since a 4-1 victory at New Jersey on Feb. 23, and ended an 0-15-3 streak. The slump was tied for the league’s 14th longest, and worst since the Pittsburgh Penguins had a 0-17-1 stretch during the 2003-04 season.
Steven Fogarty scored his first career goal and added an assist, and defenseman Brandon Montour sealed the win by scoring short-handed goals 37 seconds apart, the first into an empty net.
Ivan Provorov scored for Philadelphia in the second period. Brian Elliott allowed four goals on 16 shots before he was replaced by Alex Lyon.
AVALANCHE 9, COYOTES 3
DENVER (AP) — Joonas Donskoi scored three times during Colorado’s five-goal first period, and the Avalanche beat the Coyotes in front of home fans for the first time this season.
The team invited frontline and health-care workers, first responders, players’ families and employees into Ball Arena. The last time the Avs played in front of a home crowd was on March 11, 2020 — just before the league halted the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Andre Burakovsky and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored in a wild first period that included Arizona goals by Michael Bunting and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Gabriel Landeskog finished with two goals, Mikko Rantanen added another and Burakovsky scored his second with 3:11 remaining on an assist by Donskoi.
Conor Garland also scored for Arizona, which had won three in a row.
Philipp Grubauer stopped 28 shots for his league-leading 22nd win.
KINGS 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Lias Andersson scored in his first game back after missing more than a month, helping the Kings stop a three-game skid.
Andreas Athanasiou, Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Alex Iafallo also scored for the Kings, and Cal Petersen improved to 4-1-0 against Vegas after stopping 40 shots. Peterson has both of Los Angeles’ wins over Vegas this season.
William Karlsson and Shea Theodore scored for Vegas. Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves.
Vegas had its six-game home winning streak snapped.
SHARKS 4, WILD 2
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Rudolfs Balcers and Ryan Donato scored in the second period, and San Jose completed a two-game sweep of Minnesota.
The Sharks followed a shootout win on Monday with another strong performance against a team they are chasing in the standings.
Nikolai Knyzhov also scored his first career goal and Evander Kane had an empty-netter for the Sharks. Martin Jones made 26 saves for San Jose.
Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello scored for Minnesota, and Kaapo Kahkonen made 29 saves. The Wild are winless in their last five road games.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, JETS 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 24th goal for Toronto, and goaltender Jack Campbell stayed unbeaten this season.
Zach Hyman and Alex Kerfoot also scored for Toronto. Mitch Marner had two assists for his 13th multipoint game of the season.
Campbell, who missed the Edmonton game Monday with a lower-body injury, made 26 saves. He improved to 7-0-0 on the season.
Josh Morrissey scored for Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 23 shots.
Adding to the Jets woes, captain Blake Wheeler did not play after the first period. There was no immediate word on a reason for his absence.
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