Sabres pull away from Capitals with big third period

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Buffalo Sabres overwhelmed the Washington Capitals with three third-period goals for a 5-3 road victory on Friday.

Drew Stafford, Tim Connolly and Jochen Hecht all scored for the Sabres in the deciding period.

Connolly got the go-ahead goal on a backhander 16:18 into the final period and Hecht's empty-netter two and a half minutes later made it 5-3.

"(Jason Pominville) got the puck on the net and I was able to get a tip to get the rebound and put it in," Connolly told reporters.

"I thought it was a great job by the whole unit out there, moving the puck around and controlling that play."

Connolly left the game in the second period after taking a shot to the face.

"(It took) eight stitches," he said. "It was just a stinger. I got on the bike between the periods, got my heart rate going, felt pretty good, so (I) got back out there and went to work."

Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff praised Connolly for his effort, especially on the go-ahead goal.

"Tim knew what he was going," Ruff told reporters. "He had to do it quick or Olie (Capitals netminder Olie Kolzig) would have gotten to it."

Stafford started the rush when he scored just 18 seconds into the third period to give Buffalo a 3-2 lead.

Brooks Laich answered for Washington five minutes later before Connolly broke the tie.

The Capitals scored first on Alex Ovechkin's powerplay goal. The first-period goal was his 23rd of the season.

Derek Roy's short-handed goal for Buffalo tied the scores late in the opening period.

Washington went ahead 2-1 on Nicklas Backstrom's goal 38 seconds into the second period.

Buffalo answered again with Maxim Afinogenov scoring at 18:42 of the period.

Sabres netminder Ryan Miller made 20 saves for the victory. Washington's Kolzig had 25 stops.