Sabres 8, Thrashers 2
Mark Mancari recorded his first three-point performance of his NHL career by scoring his first goal of the season and adding two assists as the Buffalo Sabres reclaimed sole possession of eighth place in the Eastern Conference with an 8-2 rout of the visiting Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday.
Rob Niedermayer tallied twice and Nathan Gerbe, Jason Pominville and Tim Connolly scored a goal and set up another for Buffalo (35-28-8), which moved past the idle Carolina Hurricanes (33-29-10) with the victory. The Sabres also improved to 2-1-0 on their current four-game homestand.
Brad Boyes and rookie Tyler Ennis also tallied and defending Vezina Trophy winner Ryan Miller turned aside 28 shots to improve to 3-0-1 against the Thrashers this season.
With Buffalo nursing a 3-2 lead, Gerbe netted his 10th goal of the season after banging home a loose puck on the doorstep at 11:11 of the second period. Ennis tallied just 1:50 later after converting a breakaway for his 18th goal of the season and fourth in five games.
Chris Thorburn and rookie Alex Burmistrov scored for Atlanta (30-30-12), which fell six points in back of the Sabres and dropped into 11th place in the Eastern Conference.
Ondrej Pavelec permitted three goals on 11 shots before being relieved by Chris Mason, who finished with 12 saves.