Sabres rally twice in shootout win against Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Mark Pysyk scored in the third period to help the Buffalo Sabres rally for a 3-2 shootout win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.

Pysyk tied it 2-2 when he one-timed a pass from Vinnie Hinostroza at 12:03.
Dylan Cozens scored and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 30 saves for the Sabres (10-15-4), who rallied twice to win their second straight following a seven-game skid (0-5-2). Tage Thompson scored the only goal of the shootout in the third round.
"It's huge," Pysyk said. "[The Wild] always play very hard here, it's a tough building to come into. But the guys did a great job. We have some confidence that room, which is good. We've just got to keep building on it."
Cam Talbot made 38 saves for the Wild (19-8-2). They have lost three in a row for the first time under coach Dean Evason, who was hired Feb. 14, 2020. Minnesota hadn't lost three straight since a four-game skid from Jan. 5-14, 2020.
"We probably deserved (a) worse (outcome), right?" Evason said. "We weren't good. We weren't good right from the start. We weren't good in the middle. We weren't good at the end. All of us. We weren't very good.
" … Our pace was just terrible. Terrible. [The Sabres] had pace. They played hard. Credit to them for sure. But we didn't have anything tonight."

Jon Merrill gave the Wild a 1-0 lead with a one-timer at 10:11 of the first period.
Talbot saved all 21 shots he faced in the first, but Cozens tied it 1-1 on a redirection at 8:05 of the second period after Kyle Okposo stole the puck from Talbot behind the net.
"It's hard to pinpoint one thing in that game," Talbot said. "We came out pretty flat obviously in the first period and it didn't really get a whole lot better from there. We were trying to make a push in the second period there, I turn the puck over, they get one and it's a 1-1 game.
"I just feel like I left too many secondary opportunities out there for them tonight. In a game that we weren't creating a ton ourselves, I've got to settle things down in our zone. Obviously, that one giveaway cost us tonight."
The Wild had five shots on goal but failed to score during a four-minute power play after Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was penalized for high sticking Joel Eriksson Ek at 8:25 of the second period.
"It's a very winnable game because of the work they put in and they deserved to win," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. " The game we felt was ours. There was an opportunity that we would have to win that game. ... They were dialed in, and they went after it."

Kirill Kaprizov made it 2-1 at 19:04 with a low wrist-shot that got between Luukkonen's pads.
Luukkonen made saves against Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Fiala in the shootout before Kaprizov shot wide in the third round.
"It's a wake-up call for us," Merrill said. "When you're winning, everything feels good and you don't really have to sit back and address the mistakes as much, you kind of just ride the wave. But definitely right now, we've got to dig in and we've got to get ourselves out of this."
Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon reaggravated a lower-body injury and did not play after two shifts early in the third period. Spurgeon has already been ruled out of Minnesota's next game, which is Saturday against the Florida Panthers.
"Yeah, it's not good," Evason said.
NOTES:The Wild won their previous six home games. … It's the first time the Sabres have won consecutive games since Oct. 25 (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Oct. 28 (Anaheim Ducks). … Buffalo forward Anders Bjork did not play because of an illness, and defenseman Robert Hagg is month to month with a lower-body injury.