By Canadian Press

Flames suffer first loss of season as Tuch’s hat trick leads Sabres to 6-3 win

Oct 20, 2022 | 10:54 PM

CALGARY — Alex Tuch notched his first career hat trick and the Buffalo Sabres handed the Calgary Flames their first loss of the season on Thursday night with a 6-3 victory.

Dylan Cozens, Rasmus Dahlin and Casey Mittelstadt also scored for Buffalo (3-1-0) which completed a sweep of Alberta having beaten the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 on Tuesday.

Eric Comrie made 40 saves in the win.

Andrew Mangiapane, Trevor Lewis and Nikita Zadorov replied for Calgary (3-1-0). Jacob Markstrom stopped nine of the 12 shots he faced before making way for Dan Vladar who made 17 saves.

Mangiapane opened the scoring 4:21 into the game on a setup from Nazem Kadri. However, the Sabres roared back scoring three unanswered goals to close out the first period.

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Cozens tied it at 6:34 knocking the puck in after Markstrom stopped his first shot on net.

Four minutes later, Dahlin scored his fourth in as many games, snapping one past Markstrom through a screen.

Middelstadt displayed his tremendous speed, racing away from MacKenzie Weegar and putting a backhander just under the crossbar 13:10 into the period.

Vinnie Hinostraza assisted on all three first-period goals from Buffalo as he continues to make the most of his return to the lineup. In his second game since being a healthy scratch for the season’s first two games, he now has four points on the season.

Things didn’t get any better with Vladar entering the game in place of Markstrom in the second period. Tuch fired a shot past him just 46 seconds into the period to make it 4-1.

Bufallo appeared to have increased its lead as Tage Thompson’s shot deflected off Vladar and appeared to go in. After initially being called a goal, it was overturned following a replay review. 

Calgary took advantage of that break, cutting the deficit on Trevor Lewis’ first goal of the season with just 2.5 seconds remaining.

Zadorov notched his first goal of the season through a crowd 1:09 into the third to get the Flames to within one. 

However, Tuch’s second of the night at 5:41 turned the momentum the Sabres’ way. On a power play, he toe-dragged around Mangiapane and whipped a shot inside the far post to beat Vladar.

Playing career game No. 309, Tuch wrapped up his hat trick with an empty-netter at 18:35, his fifth goal of the season.

HANIFIN HURTING

The Flames were without defenceman Noah Hanifin (undisclosed injury). It resulted in Darryl Sutter having to make his the first lineup change of the season with rookie Connor Mackey inserted in his place. It also impacted the pairings with Nikita Zadorov moving up from the third pair to play alongside Rasmus Andersson, Hanifin’s normal defence partner. Hanifin is third on the team in average ice time (20:51). Mackey, 26, paired with veteran Michael Stone. It was Mackey’s 10th career NHL game.

PETERKA PRODUCING

JJ Peterka’s primary assist on Dahlin’s go-ahead goal gives him points in four straight games to begin his rookie season. That’s only been done once before in Sabres history by Victor Olofsson in 2019-20. Peterka, a 2020 second-round pick of the Sabres, hails from Germany where he played prior to coming to North America last season where he put up 68 points (28 goals, 40 assists) in 70 games to lead the AHL’s Rochester Americans in scoring. He has four points (two goals, two assists) in four games this season.

UP NEXT

Sabres: Will look to make it a perfect 3-0-0 on its four-game road trip on Saturday in Vancouver against the Canucks.

Flames: Continue a season-high eight-game homestand against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2022.

Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press