Sam Reinhart had a hat trick and the Buffalo Sabres staved off a late really to defeat the visiting Boston Bruins 6-4 on Friday, ending Boston’s six-game winning streak.
Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 36 saves and was a winner in his NHL debut.
Steven Kampfer had a goal and two assists for Boston (27-13-6, 60 points), which sits in fourth place in the Eastern Division. Tuukka Rask made 24 saves before being replaced by Jaroslav Halak early in the third period.
Boston was without Patrice Bergeron, who was hit on the foot by a shot against the Sabres on Thursday.
Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and an assist, and Casey Mittelstadt and Arttu Ruotsalainen also scored for Buffalo (13-28-7, 33 points). Mattias Samuelsson had two assists for his first NHL points.
The Sabres are 1-4-1 against Boston this season. They had lost ten straight games against the Bruins dating back to December 2018.
Buffalo led 5-1 midway through the third period, but Nick Ritchie scored on a rebound at 12:06, and Kevan Miller pulled the Bruins within 5-3 at 15:25.
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Taylor Hall’s centering pass deflected in off Rasmus Ristolainen to pull the Bruins within 5-4 at 17:12, but with 42 seconds remaining, Reinhart capped his fourth career hat trick with an empty-netter for his 20th goal of the season.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead when Kampfer banged a shot in off the right post at 2:15 of the first period.
Buffalo tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 15:40 when Reinhart converted a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Dahlin.
Dahlin beat Rask with a wrist shot from the high slot at 6:54 of the second period to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead.
Buffalo increased its lead to 3-1 at 14:17 when Mittelstadt scored on a shot from the bottom of the right circle.
The Sabres made it 4-1 when Ruotsalainen beat Rask with a wrist shot from the high slot at 1:14 of the third period. Rask left the game and Halak came on.
Reinhart scored his second goal at 4:30 of the third period when he chipped a loose puck past Halak to make it 5-1.
–Field Level Media