Elmont, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres' 13-game winless streak is officially a thing of the past.
The Sabres exorcised some serious demons on Monday with a 7-1 walloping of the New York Islanders at UBS Arena to get back into the win column for the first time since Nov. 23.
Buffalo opened the scoring just over two minutes into the affair. A tip from Beck Malenstyn baffled everyone at first, but the puck got in behind goalie Ilya Sorokin for a 1-0 Sabres lead.
Later in the first period, Jiri Kulich doubled the Sabres' lead, as he blistered a shot past Sorokin to make it 2-0, Buffalo.
Dylan Cozens deserved two assists on the play, as he located Kulich out in front while battling hard beyond the goal line to aid in Kulich's fifth goal of the season.
Vibes continued to sway Buffalo's way as the teams ventured into the second period.
The Sabr es made the Islanders pay with a powerplay goal, as Rasmus Dahlin, Jack Quinn and Jason Zucker played tic-tac-toe on the man advantage to produce Zucker's ninth goal of the season.
Goals kept coming for the blue and gold in the second period.
After Kulich battled to keep a puck in the Islanders zone, he, Dahlin and Zach Benson hooked up for Buffalo's fourth goal of the night. Benson, who went to the net, was originally stopped by Sorokin on a redirect, but then deposited a rebound for his fifth goal of the season.
Less than three minutes later, Quinn was able to fire home his fourth goal of the season off a feed from Cozens behind the Islanders net.
44 seconds after Quinn's goal, though, the Islanders were able to get on the scoreboard and get within four. Veteran forward Kyle Palmieri's tip in front of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made it 5-1 as the teams prepared for the third period of play.
With the Islanders still trailing 5-1, head coach Patrick Roy aggressively pulled his netminder for an extra-attacker with about 11-and-a-half minutes left in regulation. Shortly thereafter, the Sabres cashed in on the golden opportunity with an empty-net goal from Tage Thompson to make it 6-1.
Though it was all over but the shouting in Elmont, Kulich added a seventh Sabres goal to accentuate things at UBS Arena. Kulich won a battle against two Islanders defenders before firing home his sixth of the season.
As for Dahlin, the Sabres captain led the charge with four assists, etching his name in franchise history in the process:
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 2:07 - Beck Malenstyn (3) (Jacob Bryson, Ryan McLeod); 16:49 - Jiri Kulich (5) (Dylan Cozens, Rasmus Dahlin)
NYI: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 6:53 - Jason Zucker (9) PPG (Jack Quinn, Rasmus Dahlin); 15:45 - Zach Benson (5) (Rasmus Dahlin, Jiri Kulich); 18:21 - Jack Quinn (4) (Dylan Cozens, JJ Peterka)
NYI: 19:05 - Kyle Palmieri (12) (Anthony Duclair, Isaiah George)
Third Period:
BUF: 10:07 - Tage Thompson (17) ENG (Rasmus Dahlin); 15:49 - Jiri Kulich (6) (Unassisted)
NYI: NONE
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Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
2.) Jiri Kulich - BUF
3.) Jack Quinn - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres will be off for the league-wide Christmas break, before returning to game action at home on Friday against the Chicago Blackhawks. Puck drop at KeyBank Center is set for 7 p.m. EST with Dan Dunleavy and Martin Biron on the call.