Sabres score in the final minute with goalie pulled and win in overtime

Home Cooking

The Sabres three goals in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Minnesota Wild involved players with some connection to the Gopher State. Minnesota native Casey Mittelstadt opened the scoring 39 seconds into the third after a scoreless opening 40 minutes.

After Joel Eriksson-Ek and Declan Chisholm gave the Wild a 2-1 lead, Buffalo pulled goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for the extra attacker, leading to the tying goal with 37 seconds left in regulation. At first, Jordan Greenway though he had exacted some revenge on his former club, but it was later determined he had assisted on Dylan Cozen’s 11^th of the season. Alex Tuch, who was drafted by Minnesota and traded to Vegas as part of an expansion draft agreement, assisted on Henri Jokiharju’s game-winner.

Over .500

The Sabres overall are two games under .500 at 24-26-4, but the victory over the Wild has them over .500 on the road at 12-11-3. While there are many reasons for Buffalo’s playoff drought being extended to 14 years, their 12-15-1 record at Key Bank Center is a primary contributor.

Luukkonen Staying Red-Hot

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has started 11 of the last 13 games and after sitting out Thursday’s 4-0 loss to Florida for precautionary reasons, the big Finn made 30 saves in the win over the Wild. Luukkonen has the best GAA (1.66), and save percentage (.939) in the NHL since the middle of January, but the Sabres are only 6-5 in his 11 starts.

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