Rittich makes 25 saves; Jankowski has a goal and assist for Calgary in the 5-1 victory over Buffalo.
By Joe Yerdon / NHL.com Correspondent
BUFFALO, N.Y. — David Rittich made 25 saves, and the Calgary Flames gained in the wild-card race in the Western Conference with a 5-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.
Mark Giordano, Mark Jankowski, and Sam Bennett each had a goal and an assist for the Flames (33-25-10), who ended a four-game losing streak (0-3-1). Calgary is one point behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the West.
Casey Nelson scored for the Sabres (21-35-11), have lost two of their past three games.
Bennett gave Calgary a 1-0 lead at 5:35 of the first period when he picked up a loose puck from in front after Jankowski shot it off Sabres goalie Chad Johnson’s skate.
Jankowski extended the lead to 2-0 at 8:35 with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
Giordano made it 3-0 at 5:00 of the second period when his slap shot deflected off Sabres forward Jason Pominville and went five-hole on Johnson.
Sean Monahan made it 4-0 1:01 later on a one-timer off a pass from Johnny Gaudreau. Robin Lehner replaced Johnson, who made 18 saves, following the goal. Lehner made 18 saves.
Dougie Hamilton made it 5-0 at 18:39 with a power-play goal, scoring off a rebound from Giordano’s initial shot that was blocked in front.
Nelson scored at 19:42 of the third period to make it 5-1.
*NOTES — The Sabres recalled forward Danny O’Regan from the Rochester Americans on Wednesday. O’Regan (24, 5-foot-0, 185 lbs.) scored twice in 3 games with the Amerks since being acquired by the Sabres from the San Jose Sharks on trade deadline day. Prior to the trade, he had appeared in a career-high 19 NHL games with the Sharks in his second professional season, tallying 4 assists. A native of Berlin, Germany, O’Regan has totaled 5 points (1+4) through 22 NHL games in 2 seasons with San Jose, adding 85 points (32+53) in 97 career AHL games.
*EDITOR’S NOTE — O’Regan may have the opportunity to reunite with former Boston University teammates Jack Eichel and Evan Rodrigues. However, both Sabres currently are sidelined with injuries.
When asked that question after his first game with the Amerks, O’Regan said, “That would be really cool. That’s obviously the goal for me to get up there.
“No matter who I’m playing with, I just got to keep working on my game every day. It would be nice to play with those guys at some point.”