‘We didn’t finish’ | Sabres come back in Boston, can’t break through in OT

BOSTON – A two-goal third-period comeback earned the Buffalo Sabres another point in the standings, but they ultimately lost 4-3 to the Boston Bruins in overtime on Thursday at TD Garden.

The Sabres have dropped three straight games in the 3-on-3 period. In this one, after Buffalo killed the remainder of a Boston power play, Rasmus Dahlin rushed up ice but lost control of a bouncing puck inside the offensive blue line. Marat Khusnutdinov took it the other way and scored the overtime winner.

“Hell of a comeback, and then we have a chance to get two points, and then I [mess] up there,” Buffalo’s captain said. “That just can’t happen when we work so hard to come back."

“We just have to be smarter. We have to really dig in and see how we can play better 3-on-3. But I think it starts with not getting to overtime.”

Despite the disappointing finish, the Sabres were encouraged by their battling back in a frustrating regulation. They outshot Boston 13-5 through 20 minutes but trailed 2-0, and 29-14 through 40 minutes but trailed 3-1. Dahlin had gotten Buffalo on the board with his first goal of the season, on the power play, but Boston matched that with 21 seconds remaining in the middle frame.

“Stay with it, because I thought we did so many good things,” coach Lindy Ruff said of his message to the team after two periods. “Missed way too many good opportunities. We were making their goalie (Joonas Korpisalo) into the first star of the game for the first two periods. … But the way we were playing, if we just stay with it, we’re going to get our opportunities.”

That they did. Josh Doan, who’d provided the net-front screen on Dahlin’s goal, gloved a pop-up rebound and batted the puck in to make it a 3-2 game with 13 minutes to go.

Doan, now tied for the team lead with four goals in his first Sabres season, found himself in the middle of the game-tying tally, too. He outmuscled former Sabre Henri Jokiharju, pushing the defenseman toward Korpisalo before Alex Tuch scored with 5:35 on the clock.

Boston challenged unsuccessfully for goalie interference, but Buffalo failed to score on its resulting power play.

“I had a good feeling about that one,” Tuch said. “Very surprised they challenged it, with the fact that they’d go down on the kill, and then who knows what could happen from there. I wish we were able to capitalize on it, but we weren’t.”

The chaotic third period continued when the Bruins got a power play with 1:17 remaining. Buffalo survived until the horn, aided by Mattias Samuelsson’s huge shot block on Morgan Geekie, one of the NHL’s leading goal scorers in October.

“A penalty that we can’t take, but a couple huge blocks by Sammy, and just a real good kill that got us a point in the game," Ruff said. "We’ve just got to stop giving away points in overtime.”

In their previous two games, at Toronto and versus Columbus, the Sabres lost third-period leads before falling in overtime. On Thursday, it took an impressive comeback to earn that same standings point. And Buffalo dominated for much of the game, recording a season-high 40 shots on goal and registering 19 high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick.

“You want to compare this game to the last game we played in here (a 3-1 loss Oct. 11) – no comparison,” Ruff continued. “… Just, we didn’t finish. Some of those really good opportunities right in front of the net that we have, they’ve got to go in the back of the net if you’re going to win a game like that.”

Here’s more from the overtime loss, which has the Sabres at 4-4-3 through 11 games.

Krebs answers the bell

Before the second intermission, after Mark Kastelic scored Boston’s third goal, chaos ensued on and off the ice. An extended scrum broke out with the 10 skaters, and Bowen Byram and Nikita Zadorov had a long talk from the ends of their benches.

“I think there was a little bit of an accidental collision, or something like that, and then they were unhappy,” Tuch recalled. “Our team’s not gonna back down. We’ve shown it all year, we’re going to be in it together, and we were. There’s no fear, there’s no backing off, there’s no sitting back. We were going to continue to play right in their face.”

Tension spilled over into the third, where Peyton Krebs dropped the gloves with Boston’s Mikey Eyssimont. The Sabres acknowledged their forward with stick taps upon his return from the box, and moments later, Tuch tied the game.

“He doesn’t always show up on the scoresheet, but, man, he works – and we can see it – and he grinds, and he does the right things,” Tuch said of Krebs. “For him to play good defense and then have to stand up for himself, I thought that was huge and gave us a lot of energy. He’s not afraid, that’s for sure.”

Greenway’s season debut

Sabres forward Jordan Greenway, after a second surgery for his middle-body injury and a long rehab process, played his first game since March 23. He skated 15:22 with three shots on goal and three hits, and he won two of four faceoffs.

Up next

The Sabres return home for a Saturday night matchup with Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals. Tickets are available here.

• Info: Hockey Fights Cancer Night at KeyBank Center

Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m., with MSG’s pregame coverage beginning at 6:30.