Mittelstadt's shootout winner completes comeback win over Canucks

Casey Mittelstadt skated to center ice for his first NHL shootout attempt knowing exactly what he was going to do. The situation - a comeback and a point in the standings on the line, an announced crowd of 17,451 on their feet - was the sort that might make an average 19-year-old feel butterflies.
Luckily for the Buffalo Sabres, Mittelstadt isn't an average 19-year-old. He pulled the puck to his backhand as he neared the blue paint, quickly flipped it back to his forehand and tucked a shot behind the skate of Vancouver Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom. Carter Hutton made a save on Canucks forward Nikolay Goldobin on the next attempt to clinch a 4-3 Sabres win.
Mittelstadt smiled afterward, opting for honesty over modesty.

"If I'm being honest, that doesn't make me nervous," he said. "I like doing that. I don't know. I think especially once you touch the puck, you're settled in and it's just a breakaway. I think that's kind of how you approach it. You look at the goalie, make your move, and hopefully it goes in."

The Sabres trailed 3-1 with 2:30 to play in regulation. Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel left the game with injuries in the first period, but both returned to play pivotal roles in Buffalo's comeback. Reinhart assisted on Jeff Skinner's goal with 2:27 remaining, then buried a rebound to tie the game 40 seconds later. Eichel buried a wrist shot on the first attempt of the shootout.
It was yet another resilient effort from a Sabres team that had to erase a one-goal deficit in the third period to earn an overtime win in Montreal on Thursday. In both cases, they came away with two points despite feeling like they hadn't played their best game.
"The resiliency in this group, that never-out-of-it-attitude, the ability to continue to fight, it's tremendous, and it's been throughout the whole locker room," Eichel said. "It's so important in a long season.
"It's not always going to be pretty, you're not always going to play your best, you're not always going to feel good. It's 82 games, it's long, it's not easy. But when you're able to find two points, it's huge."

Eichel credited the Sabres coaching staff with establishing a new identity for the team in training camp, one they've been building ever since. Reinhart, with his upper lip stitched after taking a puck to the face in the first period, agreed that there's been a tangible difference from past seasons when it comes to the team's confidence.
"It was kind of an up-and-down game and I think everyone kind of stuck with it late, whether it was offensively, or the penalty kill was huge," he said. "We always felt like we were in the game and that's been something we've really changed this year."
Contributors could be found all over the ice.
Nathan Beaulieu opened the scoring in the first period on a feed from Kyle Okposo. Rasmus Dahlin and Rasmus Ristolainen tallied two assists each, marking the former's first multi-point game.
The Sabres penalty kill, led by Zach Bogosian, Marco Scandella and Johan Larsson (all of whom played four-plus minutes shorthanded) went 4-for-4, including a pair of 4-on-3 kills in overtime.
Hutton kept the Sabres in the game when they were without Eichel and Reinhart early, stopping 15 shots in the first period and then making a highlight-reel save on Bo Horvat in the second. Vancouver strung together three goals in the span of less than six minutes, but Hutton rebounded to stop two of the three attempts he faced in the shootout.

"He's mentally tough," Housley said. "I think he's got a great foundation, which starts in practice, where he works very hard. That relays into the game. There's going to be times he'd probably want that one back, but he's a fighter. He doesn't carry that goal into the rest of the game, he gets composed again."
The matchup with division-leading Vancouver began a five-game stretch for the Sabres in which their opponents are a combined 47-23-8. Four of those five teams (Vancouver, Tampa Bay, Winnipeg and Minnesota) are among the top three in their division. The other is the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It will be a tall task, no doubt. But expect the Sabres to remain confident throughout.
"It's a good feeling to have that belief," Skinner said. "You're going to run through adversity throughout the year and you sort of need to keep that belief. Things aren't going to go your way, you're going to have bad nights.
"Tonight I think wasn't our best night, but we found a way to get the job done and get two points."

Sick Mitts

Mittelstadt has shown his shootout prowess in practice and at development camp, but it took 23 games for him to get his first attempt in the NHL. Even so, Reinhart had seen enough to know the odds were in Buffalo's favor as the 19-year-old made his way down the ice.
"When he's coming down one-on-one with the goalie, his hands move so fast," Reinhart said. "I don't know what was going through his head, but we were certainly confident."
Mittelstadt's skill is evident, but he also credited his ability in the skills competition to a lot of practice during his season at the University of Minnesota.
"I used to work on it a lot, I think," he said. "My goalies last year in college - most goalies hate shootouts, but they love doing them, so I stayed on the ice with them every day in shootouts. I loved doing it too. So yeah, I think you work on it, it's definitely something you can be good at.
"I don't know. Try to score I think is the main thing."

Military Appreciation

The Sabres held their annual Military Appreciation Night at KeyBank Center, honoring current and former members of the armed forces throughout the afternoon.
The team recognized veteran John Sniadecki and his service dog, Honey, during a pregame ceremony and donated $5,000 to Pawsitive for Heroes to sponsor a service dog for a veteran in need. Learn more about Sniadecki's story and Pawsitive for Heroes in the video below.

To donate to Pawsitive for Heroes and other WNY Heroes initiatives, visit WNYHeroes.org/Donate.
The Sabres also honored Sgt. Patrick Welch of the United States Marine Corps during the singing of the national anthem. Watch the conversation that Welch, a veteran of the Vietnam War, had with Dan Dunleavy prior to the game below

The commemorative camouflage jerseys worn by the Sabres during warmups are being auctioned off now at Sabres.com/Auctions](https://auctions.nhl.com/iSynApp/allAuction.action?sid=1100803&rc=25&pgmode1=profilepage&pgcust1=sabres&pgcust2=team&pgcust3=&qt[0].type=openbrac&qt[1].type=fieldmatch&qt[1].name=panname_profileName_s&qt[1].value1=team&qt[2].type=operand&qt[3].type=fieldmatch&qt[3].name=panname_teamName_s&qt[3].value1=sabres&qt[4.

Up next

The Sabres host the Atlantic Division leading Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center on Tuesday night. The game will be nationally televised on NBCSN, or you can listen live on WGR 550. The puck drops at 7:30.