
Sabres home winless streak ends as Alex Tuch's hat trick leads way in 6-2 victory
The Buffalo Sabres improved to 12-19-4 and won consecutive games for the first time in over a month by following the same blueprint that led to success against the New York Islanders on Monday night.
As the clock was winding down during the third period Friday night, the sellout crowd in KeyBank Center chanted, “We want seven!”
Most of the 19,070 in attendance roared when Alex Tuch’s low shot from the right circle gave the Sabres another three-goal lead, and again as he completed his hat trick in a 6-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Buffalo Sabres right winger Alex Tuch (89) celebrates a hat trick with center Tage Thompson (72) and left winger Jason Zucker (17) during the third period of a game
against the Chicago Blackhawks at KeyBank Center on Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
The scene was in stark contrast to one week earlier, when the building was packed with Toronto Maple Leafs fans and several disgruntled Sabres loyalists in the 300 level were yelling for Terry Pegula to sell the team.
“It’s been a tough road the last couple months for us,” Tuch said. “To see the crowd and the city stick with us, I think, is huge. That really meant a lot to all of us and, hopefully, there will be a lot more wins in this building going forward.”
The home faithful hadn’t been given a reason to cheer inside KeyBank Center in recent weeks.
The Sabres’ 13-game winless streak ended Monday night on Long Island with a 7-1 win, but they had an eight-game home winless streak dating to Nov. 14. They didn’t get a win during a five-game homestand early this month. During that span, Buffalo blew a four-goal lead to Colorado and unraveled in a shootout loss to Detroit. The Sabres’ 7-9-3 record on home ice is tied for the 24th-best mark in the NHL, and only the Penguins have allowed more goals at home this season.
Seth Jones’ goal 3:06 into the third period that cut the Sabres’ lead to 4-2, and Tuch’s tripping penalty that occurred 22 seconds later, must have conjured maddening flashbacks for a passionate fan base that has been waiting 13 years to support a playoff team. They killed the penalty with help from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who had to make only 15 saves, and Tuch scored his second goal of the game after exiting the penalty box.
Four different players scored for the Sabres. Zach Benson, Jack Quinn and Dylan Cozens had a goal apiece. Rasmus Dahlin had two assists during the four-goal first period that had Buffalo ahead 4-0. They’ve scored 13 goals in their last two games after producing three or fewer in six straight. The Sabres improved to 12-19-4 and won consecutive games for the first time in over a month by following the same blueprint that led to success against the Islanders on Monday night.
“I thought only giving up two shots in the first period showed our willingness to play good defense, to get pucks in, to not make mistakes that we’ve been prone to make during that 13-game losing streak,” Tuch said. “We’re really trying to move on and be a better team. I thought we had a really good game against the Islanders there, and the offense came because we were playing really good defense. Tonight, scoring four in the first period and only giving up two shots, I think, is a huge, kind of, boost to the team.”
The Sabres had 35 shots on goal, including at least 11 in each period, and Luukkonen didn’t have to make a save until Connor Bedard tipped the puck at the Sabres’ goalie with 6:49 left in the first period. The Blackhawks had only two shots on goal in the first period, eight in the second and seven in the third. They broke the shutout with Tyler Bertuzzi’s wrist shot off the rush late in the middle frame, then Jones cut the Sabres’ lead to 4-2 early in the third period.
There were few careless passes by Buffalo’s players. They focused on defending, as they did on Long Island and last Saturday in Boston, and causing turnovers led to more opportunities off the rush. Benson redirected Dahlin’s highlight-reel saucer pass to beat Petr Mrazek for a 1-0 lead 9:51 into the game, Tuch tipped Tage Thompson’s slap shot for his first goal, Quinn fired a one-timer from the slot to make it 3-0 and Cozens scored his eighth goal of the season with a shot off the rush. Tuch stripped Alex Vlasic of the puck and scored on a breakaway to complete his hat trick.
The Sabres’ middle-six forward lines, centered by Cozens and Jiri Kulich, combined for three goals Friday and produced four in the win over the Islanders. Secondary scoring behind Tuch and Thompson had been an issue since the season began in Prague, but Buffalo is starting to get more from others in the lineup.
“I think you look at those lines now, they seem to be gaining a little bit of traction when it comes to (making) plays up ice, spreading the zone out, playing on a bigger piece of ice,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “I know they gave us quite a few rush opportunities, which I thought we took advantage of, but it’s great to get the scoring where we’re getting it.”
The Blackhawks are a rebuilding team that already fired its coach and lost nine of its last 12 games entering the holiday break, but every win matters for the Sabres after the damaging winless streak that sent them to the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They’re back to playing the way that they did in November when they won seven of nine games to ascend to third place in the Atlantic Division.
Ruff wants the Sabres to use the lessons and hardships from the winless streak to become a better team, but he doesn’t want them dwelling on that 0-10-3 skid, either. The focus, he said, must be to follow the same game plan that helped them escape that abyss and win consecutive games.
“I think we know where we’ve been at, and now we’d like to turn the corner, turn the page and keep going in this direction,” he said.
Here are other takeaways from the game:
1. Top guy
There is no way the Sabres would have lost 13 in a row if Dahlin were healthy.He is their best player, top defenseman and team captain. It is not a coincidence that they fell apart when he left with back spasms while Buffalo was leading 4-1 early in the third period of a 5-4 loss to Colorado. Dahlin has six assists and a plus-8 rating in his past two games.
“There was a time in the first in the first period where he was just a one-man breakout machine,” Ruff said of Dahlin. “Just kind of took the game in his own hands and said, ‘Here, I’m going to lead the way.’ ”
2. Trending up
Tuch scored his 10th, 11th and 12th goals of the season after scoring only one goal in his previous 12 games, but he wasn’t the only one with a potential breakthrough performance.Benson had six shots on goal and nine shot attempts in 15:43 of ice time. He has scored in consecutive games and, as important, he hasn’t taken a penalty in his last four games. His line with Kulich and Peyton Krebs had 86.7% of the shot-quality share at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick. The trio combined for 11 shots on goal, and the Blackhawks had only one shot on goal against them.
3. Familiar line
Ruff wasn’t willing to overlook some of Quinn’s mistakes when the third-year winger wasn’t scoring earlier this season.Quinn was scratched in five straight games and again last Saturday in Boston when the Sabres lost 3-1. It is safe to assume that his performance in two games this week has earned more patience from the coach. Quinn had a goal and an assist Monday on Long Island, then scored his fifth goal of the season Friday.
The recent improvement from Quinn could be significant for the Sabres. Quinn was one of the young forwards general manager Kevyn Adams counted on to help replace Jeff Skinner. Quinn’s line with Cozens and JJ Peterka outscored the Blackhawks 2-0.
“I think playing with those two guys is so easy,” Cozens said. “I know where they’re always going to be, they know where the other guys are going to be. We’ve just got to keep playing good defense and not cheating for offense. And we’ll get those transitions, we’ll get those turnovers and go the other way with it. I think we’re at our best when we’re on the rush, so, we can’t try and force it, though.”