Cole Caufield broke a five-game scoring drought with a tiebreaking power-play goal as the Montreal Canadiens throttled the visiting Buffalo Sabres 6-2 in Game 3, taking a 2-1 best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series lead on Sunday night.

A 51-goal scorer in the regular season, Caufield, who also posted an assist, had not found the net since Game 5 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Alex Newhook tallied twice and Juraj Slafkovsky notched his fourth postseason power-play goal. Zachary Bolduc and Kirby Dach also scored, Lane Hutson had two helpers and Jakub Dobes made 26 saves.

The Sabres’ Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin produced a goal and an assist apiece. Alex Lyon stopped 31 shots.

Referring to his Game 2 performance as an “absolute disaster,” Thompson quieted the crowd in the NHL’s largest arena when Dobes moved far out to meet Dahlin’s blast, which went wide and clanged off the end boards.

Thompson corralled the puck on the hard rebound and potted an easy marker through the vacated crease just 53 seconds in.

Newhook, who registered the Game 7 series-winner in Tampa, cashed in by bouncing one off Buffalo defenseman Conor Timmins at 15:31 to square the contest.

Caufield missed a tap-in during an early second-period power play, but he found redemption after Hutson drove through the left circle on a power play and put the puck on Caufield’s stick for a 2-1 lead at 6:05.

The home side’s fourth line made it 3-1 when Joe Veleno fed a pass back to a trailing Bolduc, who beat Lyon at 10:43.

After Buffalo’s Beck Malenstyn went off for a hard interference collision with Dobes, Hutson slipped a pass through the slot that clipped Slafkovsky for a second power-play goal at 12:17 to make it 4-1.

Dahlin answered with his own man-advantage marker 16 seconds after Dach was penalized for holding Josh Doan’s stick at 14:30.

The Sabres put together a furious push on a power play and followed it up in the third, but a Montreal 2-on-1 rush ended with Dach finding the puck and firing in his fourth goal of the playoffs for a 5-2 lead at 8:46.

Newhook put the match away with his fifth postseason marker when he was awarded one after being fouled on a breakaway toward an empty net at 15:14.

–Field Level Media

Gage Workman hit his first major league home run, a tiebreaking, pinch-hit, two-run shot in his Tigers debut, and visiting Detroit snapped a five-game losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday night.

Workman was called up from Triple-A Toledo on Sunday after Kerry Carpenter was placed on the injured list with a left shoulder sprain.

Matt Vierling drove in two runs and Hao-Yu Lee and Wenceel Perez drove in one run apiece. Riley Greene reached base four times and scored a run.

Enmanuel De Jesus (2-0) tossed 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Kenley Jansen got the last three outs for his seventh save.

Maikel Garcia had three hits, a run and an RBI to lead the Royals. Vinnie Pasquantino added two hits and drove in a run and Bobby Witt Jr. had two hits and scored a run.

Greene led off the second inning with a single and Perez hit into a fielder’s choice. Spencer Torkelson struck out but Lee hit an opposite-field triple to bring Perez. Zack Short drew a walk before Vierling doubled off the left-center-field wall, bringing home both runners.

Detroit also had two baserunners with no outs in the third but Noah Cameron retired the next three batters. Kansas City then chipped away in the bottom of the inning.

Garcia smacked a double to right and Witt reached on an infield hit. Pasquantino slapped an opposite-field single to knock in Garcia and Carter Jensen hit a sacrifice fly to score Witt.

The Royals knotted the score in the fourth. Jac Caglianone led off with a double. Drew Anderson struck out the next two but Garcia singled to center to knock in Caglianone and make it a 3-all game.

The Tigers left two more runners on in the fifth but took a 5-3 lead in the sixth. Torkelson singled off Nick Mears (2-2). One out later, Workman pinch hit for Short and drilled a slider over the right field wall.

Detroit made it 6-3 in the seventh. Greene doubled to right with one out and scored on Perez’s single to center.

–Field Level Media

Anthony Edwards scored 16 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter and the Minnesota Timberwolves took advantage of Victor Wembanyama’s ejection in the second quarter to post a 114-109 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night in Minneapolis and tie the Western Conference second-round series at two games apiece.

Naz Reid contributed 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Minnesota. He also took an elbow from Wembanyama into his chin on the play in which the Spurs’ star was ejected.

Jaden McDaniels scored 14 points, Julius Randle scored 12 and Rudy Gobert had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Timberwolves. Ayo Dosunmu added 10 points for Minnesota.

De’Aaron Fox and reserve Dylan Harper scored 24 points apiece and Stephon Castle added 20 for the Spurs. Devin Vassell tallied 14 points for San Antonio. Wembanyama had four points, four rebounds and no blocks in 12-plus minutes.

Game 5 is Tuesday in San Antonio.

The Spurs trailed by seven before Harper made two free throws with 29.1 seconds left and Julian Champagnie hit two with 20.6 seconds remaining to bring San Antonio within 112-109.

Dosunmu answered with two free throws with 9.8 seconds left as Minnesota closed it out.

Earlier, Wembanyama grabbed a rebound and was trying to protect the ball from two Timberwolves when he turned and unleashed a vicious right elbow into the chin of Reid and was called for a foul with 8:39 left in the first half.

The officiating crew studied views of the play before upgrading the foul to a flagrant 2, which is an automatic ejection. Crew chief Zach Zarba said, “There was windup, impact and follow-through above the neck of an opponent.”

Minnesota led 60-56 at the break. Edwards scored 18 in the half while Castle led San Antonio with 14 first-half points.

Despite the loss of Wembanyama, the Spurs scored 20 of the first 28 points in the third quarter and led 76-68 after a basket by Vassell with 4:33 left in the period.

San Antonio’s Keldon Johnson drove for a hoop with 21.9 seconds remaining for an 84-80 advantage entering the final stanza.

Fox buried a 3-pointer to give San Antonio a 94-86 lead with 8:51 left in the contest before Edwards scored 12 points during the Timberwolves’ 14-5 run.

Edwards started the burst with a jumper and he soon scored five consecutive points on a short floater and a long straightaway 3-pointer to cut the Minnesota deficit to three with 7:10 remaining. He later canned two free throws with 5:51 left to bring the Timberwolves within 97-95 before drilling a 3-pointer 39 seconds later to give Minnesota a one-point edge.

Gobert later delivered a thunderous dunk to give the Timberwolves a 107-101 lead with 1:56 to play.

Minnesota shot 44.7% from the field, including 10 of 27 from 3-point range.

The Spurs made 47.7% of their attempts and hit just 6 of 26 from behind the arc.

–Field Level Media