Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres have now won eight-straight games out of the Olympic break, beating the San Jose Sharks, 6-3, on Tuesday night at KeyBank Center.
Jack Quinn was the guiding presence for the Sabres with a career night, registering four points and his first-career hat-trick.
Buffalo got out to a hot start scoring just minutes into the game as Jack Quinn converted a 2-on-1 on a feed from Jason Zucker.
Then just over one minute later Alex Tuch made it a 2-0 game with a deflection on a point shot from Rasmus Dahlin.
San Jose would cut the lead in half midway through the first as Macklin Celebrini snuck a backhand past Alex Lyon in close.
Late in the first, the game started to get physical with Buffalo's new defenseman Logan Stanley getting into a fight with Zack Ostapchuk. Then on the next shift another fight broke out after Beck Malenstyn laid a big hit on Macklin Celebrini and Barclay Goodrow came to the defense of their young star.
Buffalo got their two goal lead back again five minutes into the second as Beck Malenstyn made a great individual effort to break in alone through the San Jose defense and snap it past Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov.
Just minutes later Jason Zucker extended the lead to 4-1 as he tucked in a rebound in front.
The Sharks made it a 4-2 game with just 0:31 seconds left in the second period as Kiefer Sherwood snapped home a one-timer past Alex Lyon.
The Sabres came out quick to get their three goal lead back again with Ryan McLeod setting up Jack Quinn in the slot for one-timer just :042 into the third.
With Jason Zucker off for interference, the Sharks made it a 5-3 game as Alexander Wennberg would score on the power play.
In the final minutes of the third, San Jose pulled their goaltender and Jack Quinn would seal it scoring on the empty net for the hat trick and seal the 6-3 win.
Quinn hit a few personal milestones in tonight's game. Not only earning his first career hat trick, but a career high four-point game. As well as a season high in points with 42 surpassing his previous high of 39 points.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 4:11 - Jack Quinn (13) (Jason Zucker, Ryan McLeod); 5:37 - Alex Tuch (28) (Rasmus Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson)
SJS: 12:54 - Macklin Celebrini (33) (Will Smith)
Second Period:
BUF: 4:59 - Beck Malenstyn (6) (Peyton Krebs, Rasmus Dahlin); 8:51 - Jason Zucker (20) (Jack Quinn, Owen Power)
SJS: 19:27 - Kiefer Sherwood (20) (Mario Ferraro, Alexander Wennberg)
Third Period:
BUF: 0:42 - Jack Quinn (14) (Ryan McLeod, Rasmus Dahlin); 17:14 - Jack Quinn (15) ENG (Ryan McLeod)
SJS: 6:54 - Alexander Wennberg (13) PPG (Tyler Toffoli)
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BlueStar Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Jack Quinn - BUF
2.) Jason Zucker - BUF
3.) Beck Malenstyn - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres continue their homestand on Thursday, as they welcome the Washington Capitals to KeyBank Center for a 7 p.m. faceoff. Catch all of the action on WGR Sports Radio 550, starting with pregame coverage at 6 p.m. with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog.