(WGR 550) – Despite being down 2-1 to the New York Rangers in the third period, the Buffalo Sabres somehow found a way to win a hockey game, and more importantly, stay alive in the playoff race.
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Buffalo survived a second period where they forgot how to play defense, and depended on their rookie goalie Devon Levi to keep them in it. Artemi Panarin scored two goals, where there wasn’t a Sabres player anywhere near him.
It was so strange too, because Buffalo was right on their game in the first period, where they limited chances to almost none and put a lot of pressure on Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin. Buffalo outshot New York, 14-4, and they were every bit that dominant.
In the first eight minutes of the third period, the Sabres didn’t have a shot on goal, and it was looking like it just wasn’t meant to be.
It was right then when Alex Tuch swooped in and took the puck from Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller and quickly broke in on Shesterkin. The Russian goalie made the save, but Casey Mittelstadt went to the net and scored on the rebound to tie the game at 2-2. That was Mittelstadt's third goal in two games.
That big goal got the Sabres back to their game, but their must-win game went to overtime. After getting an overtime power play and outshooting the Rangers, 6-0, it was still 2-2 at the end of the five minutes.
Levi really saved the game for his team in the second period when he made a huge stop on a wide-open Kaapo Kakko, followed by another wide-open guy in the slot, Niko Mikkola.
Sabres head coach Don Granato really leaned on his best players hard in this game. Rasmus Dahlin played 30:40, Mattias Samuelsson played 28:19, Henri Jokiharju played 25:56 and Owen Power played 25:37. That kept Ilya Lyubushkin (7:47) and Riley Stillman (6:30) seated for most of the game. Those two played two shifts in the third period and overtime.
Alex Tuch played 23:33, while Granato went to just three lines.
Buffalo’s three-best shooters went early in the shootout and didn’t score, but Levi stopped three Rangers along the way.
That’s when Granato played a hunch.
Power had never taken a turn in a shootout, but he was Buffalo’s fourth shooter. He put a great move on Shesterkin and scored.
Levi finally gave one up to Vladimir Tarasenko, but the man who had missed his last seven attempts over more than three years came to center ice. Mittelstadt came down the ice and deked Shesterkin right out of his jock to score on the backhand.
Before that goal, Mittelstadt was 3-of-14 in shootouts in his career.
Levi then gave Kakko absolutely nothing to shoot at in Round 5, and Buffalo had its two points.
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Lost in all this is the Sabres are now 24-12-3 on the road.
Overall, the Sabres are 7-1-1 in their last nine games, but the 4-1-0 rookie goalie and his teammates finally got some help on the out-of-town scoreboard. The New York Islanders shockingly lost to the Washington Capitals, while the Florida Panthers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime.
That means all Florida has to do in its final game against the Carolina Hurricanes is get one point to make sure the Sabres can't catch them. The Islanders will get rid of the Sabres if they beat the Montreal Canadiens in their final game.
The Pittsburgh Penguins can make it impossible on the Sabres if they get three out of four points in their final two games against the two worst teams in the NHL, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks.
All this hinges, of course, on the Sabres winning Tuesday in New Jersey against the Devils and beyond.
Buffalo won it's 40th game of the year on Tuesday, marking the first time in 12 seasons they've attained that threshold.
Faceoff from Newark is set for 7 p.m. ET with pregame coverage on WGR with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog starting at 6 p.m. ET.
