Recap: Henrique's Goal Lifts Ducks to 4-3 OT Victory in Buffalo

It wasn't pretty by any means, but in the end, the Ducks found a way.
Adam Henrique's game winner 1:36 into sudden death lifted the Ducks to a 4-3 OT victory over the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Tuesday night. It was a much-needed victory for the Ducks, who ended a three-game losing streak in the finale of their five-game road trip that saw them go 2-2-1.

Rickard Rakell and Ondrej Kase scored goals to erase one-goal deficits, and Corey Perry was credited with one of the strangest goals you will see all season. Ryan Miller made 30 saves against his former club of 11 years. Henrique, who turned 28 today, leads the Ducks with five game-winning goals.
In his postgame interview, Perry said the Ducks treated this as a must-win game. "We needed the two points," he said. "To get back to .500 on this road trip and go home for a couple games, that's something we needed to build on."
With the win, the Ducks have earned points in five of the last seven games (4-2-1) and have gone 12-6-2 in their last 20 games to remain in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.
Ryan O'Reilly's game-tying goal with 14.5 seconds left in regulation could have been a back-breaker, but Perry says he and his teammates stayed positive.
"Those ones are tough, but you look at how we played that overtime," he said. "We controlled the puck. We didn't give it back to them. We took our chance. Rico [Henrique] made a heck of a shot."
Henrique adds, "We just stuck with it. Few mistakes ended up in the back of our net. Tough one at the end. We battled hard tonight and kept pushing. Found a way."
Zemgus Girgensons and Jack Eichel also scored for the Sabres, who have lost four in a row on their current five-game homestand and remain stuck at 999 all-time regular season home wins. Robin Lehner turned aside 29 shots in the loss.
The Sabres opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal from Girgensons at the 3:20 mark of the first period. It was a severe-angle shot Girgensons used to sneak a shot across the stripe for his sixth goal of the season and his second one of the PK variety. The lone assist was credited to rookie defenseman Casey Nelson for his first career NHL point (ninth game overall).
Anaheim answered back 22 seconds into the second period when Rakell's shot caromed off the near-side post before banking off the back of Lehner's leg and across the stripe. Perry and Henrique were also in the vicinity, but neither made contact with the puck. The goal, Rakell's team-leading 22nd of the season, gave him seven points (4g/3a) over his last four games and 12 points (6g/6a) in his last eight. An assist on the goal gave Ryan Getzlaf 300 career power-play points (77g/223a), becoming the second Anaheim player to reach that milestone. (Teemu Selanne is the leader with 410).

Buffalo answered back with 2:42 remaining in the second period when Eichel finished off a tic-tac-toe sequence with a backdoor one-timer for his 21st goal of the season. It marked his third power-play goal of the season and his 50th point overall.
The Ducks responded in the final minute of the period when Kase's backhander snuck through the wickets to even the game at two goals apiece. It came with 39 seconds left on the clock and started with an innocent point shot from Josh Manson. After the rebound was kicked out, Kase was able to use his backhand to send the puck through Lehner's legs for his second goal in as many games. The goal was Kase's 14th of the season, second on the team.

Anaheim got a fortunate bounce when O'Reilly inadvertently shot the puck into his own net with under 10 minutes remaining in regulation. O'Reilly was attempting to send the puck behind the net, but it caught a piece of Lehner's stick and went top shelf. The goal was credited to Perry, his 10th of the season.

"I missed the first one," Perry said, on the pass through the crease from Getzlaf. "Ricky [Rakell] hit it, I hit it and all of a sudden it was in the back of the net. Sometimes it's not pretty, but you'll take it and get out of here. Those are the kind of goals we've been talking about. Just being around the net and in the crease."
O'Reilly found redemption when he scored the game-tying goal with 14.5 seconds left in regulation with the Sabres on a 6-on-5 with Lehner on the bench.
The birthday boy Henrique finished it off with a blistering wrist shot that went over Lehner's right shoulder to give the Ducks a crucial win.

"We made a good change," said Henrique, on the sequence that led to his goal. "I tried to get a little bit of speed. I tried to pull it around the defenseman and get a good shot off."
The Ducks will return home to open a brief two-game homestand beginning Friday against the Edmonton Oilers.