St. Paul, Minn. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - It was a good "short-term memory" type-game for the Buffalo Sabres.
After an ugly 5-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Friday afternoon, the Sabres found a way to battle back and earn a 3-2 shootout win on Saturday night against the red-hot Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.
The Wild opened the scoring just 9:37 into the contest. Two pieces of the top-line for Minnesota did the damage, as veteran forward Mats Zuccarello found Kirill Kaprizov for an off-wing one timer to give the Wild a 1-0 advantage.
Just over three minutes later, Beck Malenstyn netted his third goal of the season, forming almost a human wall with Josh Dunne, as the two crashed the crease on the shot from Peyton Krebs.
The Wild formulated a quick response, and snatched the lead back just over a minute later.
Following a ghastly turnover from winger Alex Tuch in his own end, the puck eventually ended up on the forechecking-stick of Matt Boldy, who netted his 15th goal of the season after his shot snuck far-side by Sabres goalie Colten Ellis.
In the waning minutes of the second period, Zach Benson had a nice look with Peyton Krebs out in front, but Wild goalie Filip Gustafsson flashed the right pad to shoo away, what could have been, the game-tying goal for Buffalo.
The middle stanza also featured some special teams play for both sides, but the two teams stood pat.
In the third period, the Sabres found the equalizer.
A fortuitous bounce off a shot from Josh Doan was put in to the net with the hand of Mats Zuccarello, as he attempted to grab the puck out of the air.
Buffalo and Minnesota traded great chances in the final moment of regulation and into overtime, but a shootout was needed on this night.
In the shootout, Buffalo got goals from Tage Thompson, Jack Quinn and Noah Ostlund, with Ostlund's serving as the game-winner in the bottom of the fourth round. Minnesota was able to get a pair of shootout goals from Boldy and Kaprizov.
----------
SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 12:42 - Beck Malenstyn (3) (Peyton Krebs, Josh Dunne)
MIN: 9:37 - Kirill Kaprizov (17) (Mats Zuccarello, Danila Yurov); 14:05 - Matt Boldy (15) (Unassisted)
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
MIN: NONE
Third Period:
BUF: 6:01 - Josh Doan (8) (Alex Tuch, Noah Ostlund)
MIN: NONE
Overtime:
BUF: NONE
MIN: NONE
Shootout:
MIN: Mats Zuccarello - Save
BUF: Tage Thompson - GOAL
MIN: Matt Boldy - GOAL
BUF: Jack Quinn - GOAL
MIN: Kirill Kaprizov - GOAL
BUF: Alex Tuch - Save
MIN: Vladimir Tarasenko - Save
BUF: Noah Ostlund - GOAL
----------
----------
Blue Star Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
2.) Noah Ostlund - BUF
3.) Kirill Kaprizov - MIN
----------
What's next:
The Sabres return home to host the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m. with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the radio call.