.The Saddledome crowd roared at 3:58 of the third period when Lucic finished off a passing sequence with Derek Ryan and Dillon Dube for his first goal in 29 games dating to last season with Edmonton. Choruses of ''Looo'' echoed throughout the building as Lucic hugged his linemates in the corner after putting Calgary ahead 4-1.The goals by McCabe and Eichel came in the last three minutes - Eichel's with the goaltender pulled - to set up a furious finish.David Rittich made 26 saves to improve to 13-7-4. Linus Ullmark, who had 25 stops, fell to 7-6-2.After successfully killing off three straight first-period power plays for the Sabres, the Flames tied it 1-all at 16:42 by converting their first man-advantage.Set up by Monahan, Gaudreau skated to the faceoff dot and ripped a shot into the top corner for his sixth goal of the season.Gaudreau, who scored 36 times last season, entered without a goal in 10 games and with just two in his past 24 games.Rieder's short-handed goal at 11:18 of the second broke the tie. Sprung on a breakaway by Ryan, Rieder sped in on Ullmark and on a deke, neatly slid the puck through the pads of the Buffalo goaltender.At 15:02, Calgary surged in front 3-1 when Mikael Backlund set up Monahan for a one-timer from a sharp angle. It was the seventh goal of the season for Monahan, who is coming off consecutive 30-goal seasons.Gaudreau and Monahan snapped out of their slumps on a night when Ward reconfigured his top two lines. Separated to start the game, Gaudreau and Monahan were later reunited - but with a new winger in Backlund.Meanwhile, Elias Lindholm, the other longtime member of Calgary's top line, shifted to center and skated between Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane.Buffalo opened the scoring 3:29 into the first period when Reinhart redirected Rasmus Ristolainen's point shot past Rittich.NOTES: Flames D Travis Hamonic (lower body) returned to the lineup after missing six games. ... Calgary improved to 9-3-1 against Eastern Conference opponents.UP NEXTSabres: At the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.Flames: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.---More NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
The Buffalo Sabres might have stopped the freefall just in time, but it won't be easy to keep moving in the right direction.As the Sabres kick off a three-game road trip through Western Canada with a Thursday clash at the Calgary Flames, they are on a 3-1-2 run capped by a 7-1 home win over the New Jersey Devils on Monday.However, five of Buffalo's next eight games are against clubs currently sitting in a playoff position, and the other three opponents are the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nashville Predators and Flames - clubs expected to be in the hunt for a playoff spot."The last couple of weeks, we think we've been playing pretty good hockey," forward Conor Sheary said. "We haven't gotten a lot of results, and part of that is because of secondary scoring. The other part is special teams, and both of those were good (against the Devils). Hopefully that will give us confidence moving forward." This season has been a roller coaster for the Sabres. They posted an 8-1-1 mark in the first 10 games, then won only twice in their next dozen outings before stemming the tide.The hope is that one-sided victory over the cellar-dwelling Devils - Buffalo staked itself to a 5-0 lead by the end of the first period - is a sign things are in order."They did a good job of managing it with 5-0," Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger said. "We haven't been in that position before, and Linus (goaltender Linus Ullmark) did a good job too. It was nice to see the guys explode. ... Just a lot of things happening that we can build on." The Flames appear to also be finding their form. Coming off a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, Calgary has a 3-0-1 mark in the past four games, and the team must be happy the calendar has turned to a new month. In November, the team saw defenseman T. J. Brodie collapse on the ice during practice and coach Bill Peters become embroiled in a controversy that led to his resignation."Everyone's been through a lot, emotionally, lately here," forward Milan Lucic said. "When you're on the ice, it's like that Happy Gilmore 'Happy Place'-type of thing. You're not really thinking about anything other than when you were a kid playing the game of hockey. When you work hard and get the result, there's no better feeling, so we've got to keep that going." The win over Ottawa kicked off a stretch in which the Flames play seven of nine games at home. With the benefit of some rest - they actually had two consecutive days off following their last game - the Flames are optimistic they are prepared to take advantage of the opportunity before them."The biggest thing we've noticed over the last couple of games was how tight we were defensively," interim coach Geoff Ward said. "It was better than it has been. Good teams and winning teams, they know how to manage games. Even on nights when you're not having your best effort, defensively and away from the puck, you're still good and you find a way to keep yourself in the game and a lot of times, win the game." The Flames also will receive a boost against Buffalo as second-pairing defenseman Travis Hamonic is poised to return after missing six games due to a lower-body injury.--Field Level Media
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