Sabres earn road point against Chicago

CHICAGO - Carter Hutton made seven saves in a wide-open overtime period Thursday night, but the Buffalo Sabres were unable to come up with two points against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Chicago scored on all three of their shootout attempts to come away with a 5-4 victory at United Center.
Buffalo battled back from a two-goal deficit in the second period to gain a 3-2 advantage. The teams then traded goals in the third in short spurts in a game filled with rushes and long outlet passes.
"That's the style they like to play," defenseman Zach Bogosian said. "I don't think we checked well enough tonight to get the win, but it's a big point for us."

Bogosian (1+1) and Evan Rodrigues (0+2) each had multi-point nights for Buffalo. Vladimir Sobotka, Brandon Montour and Kyle Okposo also scored. Hutton finished the game with 41 saves. The Sabres' last win in Chicago came on Jan. 10, 2007.

"This is where we're at right now. We're going to have to scrape and claw for every point we get," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "It's a valuable lesson that you get that one goal lead, now it's time buckle down. We're trying to do the right thing, they got a little puck luck."
Buffalo regained the lead to make it 4-3 at the 7:20 mark of the third period on Okposo's 11th goal of the year. The Sabres moved quickly out of their own end and Okposo capitalized on a one-timer off a pass from Rodrigues to beat Corey Crawford.

However, the Blackhawks answered almost immediately when Brandon Perlini cashed in on a loose puck in front 37 seconds later.
In the overtime period, Chicago outshot Buffalo 7-5, but held possession for more than a few deadly looks.
"It seemed like the ice was tilted there a little bit. They were all over us," Hutton said. "...They've got a lot of skill over there so 3-on-3 is a lot of ice for them to work.
"For me, just trying to battle and keep us in it. It's one of those ones, we'd like to hold that 4-3 lead and close it out, but at least we'll take a point out of it."

Coming back in the second

In 3:29, the Sabres went from down two to up one thanks to goals in quick succession by Sobotka, Montour and Bogosian.
Sobotka and Bogosian both returned to action Thursday from one-game absences due to injuries.
Bogosian's goal came on the penalty kill at the 3:16 mark of the period. It was his third goal of the season and his first shorthanded goal since Oct. 22, 2009 when he was with the Atlanta Thrashers.
According to the Sabres Public Relations Department, he joins Jake McCabe to give the Sabres two shorthanded goals by defensemen for the first time since the 2005-06 season. McCabe scored shorthanded on Jan. 8 against the Devils. Henrik Tallinder and Jay McKee were the goal scorers in 2005-06.
Streaking down the right wing Bogosian, accepted a feed from Rodrigues at the top of the faceoff circle and crashed the net, looking to feed it to Sobotka in front of the net. When that lane closed and he saw Crawford pull himself off the post, leaving a wide opening, Bogosian cut back and tucked the puck in short side.

"I thought we has excellent. He really attacked the game," Housley said of Bogosian. "He'd probably want that first period back, but I liked the way he responded. He went and attacked the game. He took charge.
A clean breakout also contributed to Montour's game-tying goal 4:39 into the second. Bogosian sent a long pass from his own end to Scott Wilson on the left wing at the Blackhawks blue line. Wilson then chipped the puck up to Montour, who was joining the rush. His wrist shot from the slot beat Crawford for his second goal as a member of the Sabres.

Sobotka got the Sabres on the board 3:16 into the period on a delayed penalty. A blast from the point by Montour was not handled cleanly by Crawford and the puck deflected off his glove and back into the front of the net. Zemgus Girgensons and Tage Thompson both touched it before the puck found its way to Sobotka, who was parked in front. He tapped it into an empty net.

The Sabres killed off two penalties to start the game (and finished the night 5-for-5), but the Blackhawks struck first with a pair of goals over a 2:25 span at the end of the opening period. Duncan Keith's backhand in the slot found the back of the net with 3:59 remaining and then Aterm Animisov, who also scored in the third to make it 3-3, potted a breakaway attempt with 1:34 left to put Chicago up 2-0. The Sabres did have some prime chances of their own as they were outshot 16-14 in the first.
Their persistence paid off with that three-goal second period.
"We just scored some big goals. In the first, I thought we just had a couple breakdowns but we did some good things in the offensive zone. A couple breakdowns and it's in the back of our net," Okposo said. "In the second, I thouht we came out and we played a pretty good period."

Up next

The Sabres are scheduled to practice on Friday in Denver as they prepare for Saturday afternoon's game against the Colorado Avalanche. Faceoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on MSG and WGR 550 so make sure you join us for the GMC Game Night pregame show on MSG at 2:30.
"If you get frustrated, that's not going to help anyone," Bogosian said. "We're going come ready to work, wake up in Colorado tomorrow and get ready for the game."