Sam Carrick scored twice for the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-0 win against the host San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and an assist, Logan Stanley had two assists, and Alex Lyon made 23 saves for the Sabres (43-20-6, 92 points), who are 11-1-0 in their past 12 games.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 11 saves for the Sharks (32-29-6, 70 points), who have lost three straight.
After a scoreless first period with occasional chances, things picked up in the second.
Shortly after Will Smith clanked one off the crossbar, Kiefer Sherwood’s shot from below the right circle got behind Lyon but rolled through the crease out the other side. Lyon then got his glove to deny Michael Misa, who went backhand to forehand from in close on a 2-on-1.
But it was Buffalo that broke the game open with three goals on three shots in less than two minutes midway through the period.
Noah Ostlund gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 9:05. Josh Doan skated down the left side before cutting towards the middle, pulling Nedeljkovic to him. His shot caromed off the end boards and bounced out the opposite side to Ostlund, who quickly buried it into the open side of the net.
Carrick scored 36 seconds later to make it 2-0 when he took a short drop pass from Dahlin above the right circle and beat Nedeljkovic over his right shoulder at 9:41.
Dahlin pushed it to 3-0 at 10:48. Jason Zucker, with defenseman Sam Dickinson on his back, sent a backhand centering pass to Dahlin driving to the net for the tap-in.
Tage Thompson’s 35th of the season extended Buffalo’s lead to 4-0 just 40 seconds into the third period. He took the puck from the neutral zone up the right side and fired a wrist shot from the circle that trickled through Nedeljkovic’s pads.
Stanley’s point shot redirected off the stick of San Jose’s Adam Gaudette before hitting Carrick’s skate and going past Nedeljkovic glove side at 16:54 for a 5-0 advantage.
