Ducks Can’t Keep Pace With Sabres

As the Mighty Ducks found out Friday night, the Buffalo Sabres aren’t playing like the team that lost seven consecutive games in December.

Curtis Brown, Chris Drury and Dmitri Kalinin each had a goal and an assist to lead the Sabres to a 5-2 victory over the Mighty Ducks.

Miroslav Satan and Daniel Briere also scored for Buffalo, which has won four of five and scored 19 goals during that span.

Keith Carney and Andy McDonald scored for the Ducks, who had won two straight.

The Ducks are 2-4 in their last six and in last place in the Pacific Division with 35 points, four behind Phoenix.

“I thought the game started OK, but we turned the puck over too much,” Duck Coach Mike Babcock said.

“I thought we had good chances early, then the Sabres took over the game.”

The Sabres, who tied a franchise record with seven straight losses inDecember, have earned nine points over their last six games.

“We have to keep up this momentum to get back in the picture,” Coach Lindy Ruff said.

Heading into Friday’s game, Buffalo was in 13th place in the Eastern Conference, seven points out of a playoff spot.

In a game in which the momentum kept shifting, Buffalo was able to thwart two comeback bids by the Ducks.

After Drury opened the scoring with a short-handed goal at 9:42 of the first period, Carney tied it only 21 seconds later while the Ducks were stillon a power play.

It was Carney’s first goal since last Jan. 9.

Brown put Buffalo up, 2-1, just 16 seconds into the second with his sixth goal, and Kalinin boosted the lead with a wrist shot that beat Martin Gerber two minutes later.

The Ducks made another charge after McDonald scored his eighth of the season with 2:14 to go in the second, but Satan countered with his team-leading 14th goal 35 seconds later.

After Carney turned the puck over at the blue line, Satan skated in and made a move on Sergei Fedorov, freeing himself for a quick wrist shot that beat Gerber on the glove side.