ST. PAUL, MN. (The Associated Press) — Dylan Cozens tied it with 37 seconds left with goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen off for an extra attacker and Henri Jokiharju scored 1:29 into overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Luukkonen made 31 saves to help Buffalo win for the second time in five games since the All-Star break. Casey Mittelstadt also scored.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Declan Chisholm scored for Minnesota, and Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves. The Wild had won four straight.
Cozens tied it by knocking home a rebound in front of the net. Jokiharju then beat Gustavsson with a wrist shot from the top of the slot.
After two scoreless periods, Mittelstadt got Buffalo on the board 39 seconds into the third period. The Twin Cities native scooped up a loose puck near the Wild blue line and fired a wrist shot that beat Gustavsson under his right arm.
Less than four minutes later, Eriksson Ek tied it with his 25th of the season, one shy of his career high. Kirill Kaprizov carried the puck deep into the Buffalo zone, dragging two Sabres with him. Luukkonen lost his balance as Kaprizov dropped the puck back for Eriksson Ek, who banged it into the open net.
Connor Clifton was then called for a double minor after his stick caught Minnesota’s Jake Middleton in the face. The Sabres nearly killed off the Wild’s man advantage, but Chisholm scored his first NHL goal off a faceoff with 16 seconds left on the power play.
Tage Thompson appeared to have given the Sabres a 1-0 lead late in the first with a power-play goal. But the Wild challenged the play and it was ruled a Sabres skater had been offside, nullifying the goal.
UP NEXT
Sabres: Host Anaheim on Monday night.
