Tage Thompson scored twice and Alex Tuch had a goal and assist as the Buffalo Sabres clinched the Atlantic Division title with a 5-1 victory against the host Chicago Blackhawks on Monday.
Buffalo (50-23-8, 108 points) recorded its fourth straight victory. The Sabres have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference behind the Carolina Hurricanes’ 111 points.
After snapping a 14-season playoff drought this month, Buffalo will open the postseason against either the Boston Bruins or the Ottawa Senators.
Ryan McLeod and Josh Norris also scored while Rasmus Dahlin notched two assists for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 15 saves.
Rookie Ryan Greene scored for Chicago, and Spencer Knight stopped 21 shots.
The Sabres outshot the Blackhawks 26-16. Chicago finished 0-for-5 on the power play compared to 0-for-2 for Buffalo.
The Blackhawks (28-39-14, 70 points) put a brief scare into the Sabres when Greene opened the scoring with a short-handed goal at 3:58 of the first period. With Sam Rinzel off for high-sticking, Greene took an Ilya Mikheyev pass off the rush, made a move in front and beat Luukkonen with a wrist shot just 14 seconds into the Buffalo man advantage.
Also sluggish at even strength in the early going, the Sabres tied the game at 19:02 of the first period. Josh Doan stole a Greene pass inside the Chicago blue line and fed the puck to Norris, who sent a wrist shot over Knight from the left circle.
Norris stretched his point streak to five games while Doan extended his to four.
Buffalo capitalized on another Blackhawks turnover at 13:00 of the second period to take the lead for good. Thompson, the club’s top scorer with 81 points, collected the puck near the goal line and scored after weaving through two defenders.
The Sabres made it 3-1 at 5:38 of the third. Dahlin found Tuch in the middle of the ice with a stretch pass, and Tuch’s shot glanced off Knight’s glove and into the net.
Thompson netted his 40th goal less than six minutes later, converting a one-timer from Dahlin.
McLeod capped the scoring at 18:35 of the third.
Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar wore a cage mask after leaving the team’s Saturday home loss to the St. Louis Blues early upon taking a puck to the face.
Chicago fell to 1-8-1 in its past 10 games.
