Tage Thompson’s 33rd goal of the season lifted the Sabers past the Golden Knights.

Tage Thompson scored his 33rd goal of the season and Alex Lyon made 27 saves as the Buffalo Sabers jumped out to a 3-0 lead and won their fourth straight game (3-2) over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.

Thompson, who was honored before the game along with the Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin, who won gold medals with the U.S. Olympic team, scored what proved to be the game-winner midway through the second period. Owen Power and Jason Zucker also scored for Buffalo, which improved to 25-5-2, a league best since Dec. 9.

Ivan Barbashev and Pavel Dorofeyev scored and Akira Schmid made 25 saves for Vegas, which snapped a three-game losing streak.

The Golden Knights continued their pattern of sluggish starts, falling behind 3-0 in the first 25 minutes.

Zucker opened the scoring when he attempted a rebound off Eichel’s skate at 4:02 of the opening period.

Power extended the lead 46 seconds into the second period with a floater past a screened Schmid. Thompson made it 3-0, extending his point streak to eight games when he fired a wrist shot from the right circle past the side of Schmid’s blocker.

The Golden Knights got back into the game with two goals in a span of 97 seconds late in the second half. Barbashev got the first with a wraparound rebound off Schmid’s right pad and inside the left post. Dorofeyev scored his team-high 29th goal, intercepting a pass at the Buffalo blue line to put Lyon up by five.

Ryan McLeod had a chance to seal the win for the Sabers with 2:49 to play, but his wrist shot hit the crossbar.

Vegas pulled Schmid for an extra attacker with 1:30 remaining, and the Golden Knights, who lead the league with nine turnovers, nearly tied the game with 20 seconds left, but Brayden Bowman’s spinning wrist shot from the top of the slot hit the crossbar.

–Field level media