Tage Thompson scored his 33rd goal of the season and Alex Lyon made 27 saves as the Buffalo Sabres jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then held on for their fourth straight victory, 3-2, over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
Thompson, honored before the game along with Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin of the Golden Knights for winning a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team, scored what proved to be the game-winner midway through the second period. Owen Power and Jason Zucker also scored goals for Buffalo, which improved to a league-best 25-5-2 since Dec. 9.
Ivan Barbashev and Pavel Dorofeyev scored goals, and Akira Schmid finished with 25 saves for Vegas, which dropped its third straight game.
The Golden Knights continued a pattern of poor starts, falling behind 3-0 in the first 25 minutes.
Zucker opened the scoring at the 4:02 mark of the opening period when he knocked in a rebound off the skate of Eichel.
Power extended the lead 46 seconds into the second period with a floater past a screened Schmid. Thompson made it 3-0, extending his point streak to eight games in the process, when he ripped a wrist shot from the right circle past Schmid’s blocker side.
The Golden Knights got back into the game with two goals in a 97-second span later in the second period. Barbashev got the first, tucking in a wraparound rebound inside the left post that caromed in off Schmid’s right pad. Dorofeyev followed with his team-best 29th goal, intercepting a pass at the Buffalo blue line and then beating Lyon five-hole on a breakaway.
Ryan McLeod had a chance to seal the win for the Sabres with 2:49 to go when he broke in free down the slot, but his wrist shot clanged off the crossbar.
Vegas pulled Schmid for an extra attacker with 1:30 remaining, and the Golden Knights, who lead the league with nine comeback wins, nearly tied it with 20 seconds left, but Braeden Bowman’s spinning wrist shot from the top of the slot hit the crossbar.
