Sabres defeat Wild in opener of Traverse City tourney

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- The Buffalo Sabres had a memorable opener in their Traverse City Prospects tournament debut here at Center ICE Arena on Saturday following a 6-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

After spotting the defending Traverse City Tournament champion Wild a 2-0 lead on power-play goals by Zack Phillips and Chay Genoway, Luke Adam and Nick Crawford connected in a span of 3:34 late in the first period to pull the Sabres even.

The teams exchanged goals in the second with Riley Boychuk giving Buffalo a 3-2 lead before Minnesota's Mike Kramer evened the contest with just six seconds left.

The Sabres then broke the game open in the third on goals by Jonathan Parker, Daniel Catenacci and Phil Varone. Sabres starting goalie Nathan Lieuwen turned aside 18 shots to earn the victory. Minnesota's Darcy Kuemper took the loss, stopping 18 of 23 shots.

Back to top