Sabres lose back-and-forth contest to Wild in overtime

The Buffalo Sabres lost 5-4 in overtime to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday at KeyBank Center, with Mats Zuccarello scoring the game winner for Minnesota.

Considering the situation through 30 minutes, the Sabres did well to collect a standings point against the NHL’s third-place team. They trailed 3-1 midway through the second period, had only seven shots on goal and seemed a step or two behind the Wild.

Things changed quickly. Peyton Krebs tipped in his fourth goal of the season to reignite the home crowd, and Jack Quinn scored just 1:27 later to tie the game. A few minutes after that, Alex Tuch placed a shot over goaltender Filip Gustavsson’s shoulder for a power-play goal and a 4-3 Sabres lead.

But Quinn Hughes blasted one past Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen late in the second, sending them to the third period tied 4-4.

“It was like a team could stack a couple good shifts together, but then the other team would get a little bit of momentum,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. “It was really a back-and-forth affair where you couldn’t capture momentum for more than probably two or three minutes. We captured it; they got a late goal in the period.”

Luukkonen stopped 10 shots in the third – part of a 30-save afternoon – to help get things to overtime. But a late penalty, in a game full of them, gave Minnesota 1:47 of 4-on-3 power-play time in the extra period.

Mattias Samuelsson’s clear looked to have killed it off, but Gustavsson made a stretch pass to keep the tired Sabres on the ice and set up an odd-man rush, where Zuccarello scored the winner.

“That’s brutal,” said Krebs, who was one second from escaping the box when Zuccarello ended it – he didn’t think his stickwork had merited a hooking penalty.

“[Gustavsson] made a great play. Our guys were dead tired,” added Ruff. “I mean, we had an unbelievable kill going to that point. I don’t think we gave them a shot.”

Despite the disappointing finish, the Sabres recognize the value of that point in the jam-packed Eastern Conference standings. Additionally, the power-play improved to 5-for-14 (36 percent) over the last three games, Quinn scored his fourth goal in the last five and Tuch extended his scoring streak to seven games (5 goals, 3 assists).

“Not our best game all around,” Quinn said, “but great job of fighting our way back and staying with it and getting a point.”

Here’s more from the overtime loss.

Kesselring’s eventful return

Sabres defenseman Michael Kesselring returned from an ankle injury for his first game since Dec. 31, skating 10:16 with a plus-one rating, two hits, a shot block and nine penalty minutes.

His afternoon had a chaotic start. Two minutes in, he hit the post on a great scoring chance. Later in the first period, Kesselring and Marcus Foligno were about to fight behind the play – a response to Kesselring hitting Hughes – when Ryan McLeod scored to tie it 1-1. Both guys got minor penalties, and when they escaped the box, they fought for real.

“Awesome job,” Ruff said. “He was trying to make his presence felt; I thought he did, right off the bat. Marcus is a big, strong kid, and to take him on, I give kudos to him.

“But you could see early on, he wanted to try to make a difference with the puck. He wanted to get involved offensively.”

Kesselring is still looking for his first point after 17 injury-interrupted games with the Sabres.

On top of all that, Kesselring's nose was bleeding heavily after being punched by Minnesota's David Jiricek in the second period. The officials ruled just a minor penalty after review.

UPL’s home streak ends

Before Saturday, Luukkonen had won seven straight home games. Even after the overtime loss, he’s got an impressive 8-1-1 record, .914 save percentage and 2.38 goals-against average at KeyBank Center this season.

Luukkonen drew a tough assignment in the Wild, who consistently got pucks and bodies near the crease and generated 21 high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick.

“Personally, for me, I want to make more saves, I want to help the team to win,” Luukkonen said. “One-goal games, you always think to yourself, ‘Well, only one (more) save here and there, and we would’ve won the game.’ But it’s on me, it’s on the team, to limit those scoring chances and win those games.”

Up next

The Sabres play their next five on the road, beginning Monday at 1:30 p.m. against the Carolina Hurricanes. The game will be broadcast on TNT and truTV and streaming on HBO Max.