(WGR 550) – It took 20:21 for the Buffalo Sabres to get behind 4-0 against the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night.
The team couldn’t have been worse. They looked tired, they were losing battles, the defense was awful, and they were oblivious to the Hawks' defense jumping in and it cost them two goals.
I’m sure when the Sabres left the ice at the end of the first period down 3-0, head coach Don Granato reminded his team that Chicago had a 3-0 third period lead in Vegas on Saturday and lost to the Golden Knights with the same goalie in net.
Buffalo hadn’t come back from a four-goal deficit in a game to win since Jan. 21, 1989 in Boston when Pierre Turgeon scored in overtime for a 6-5 win over the Bruins. It seemed improbable that it would happen again.
But out of nowhere the Sabres got their legs, were hard on pucks, hard in battles, and got pucks and players to the net.
It all started at 4:50 of the second period when Victor Olofsson found his way to his old friend on the power play: the right circle. He hasn’t been there much of this season, but Dylan Cozens went cross-ice to him, and Olofsson wasted no time ripping a one-timer past goalie Kevin Lankinen.
Just over five minutes later, Jeff Skinner caused a turnover behind the net, outworked the defense and found an open Olofsson in front, who, again, wasted no time beating Lankinen, who went down early. That gives Olofsson seven goals in 13 games this month.
That goal came after Granato did the right thing and changed the lines. He wanted Cozens with Kyle Okposo, because earlier this season, they played well together. He put Alex Tuch on the Eakin line and Vinnie Hinostroza on the Thompson line.
Granato’s faith in Cozens with Okposo paid off a little over four minutes after the second Olofsson goal. Cozens pushed a puck to the net that hit Okposo's leg and went in. Remember, puck and people to the net.
That made the score 4-3 heading into the third. Buffalo had dominated the second, outscoring Chicago, 3-1, and outshooting them, 15-5.
By the way, for Okposo, he has 10 goals in 24 games since coming back from injury.
Hinostroza was a possessed man in the third period. He has played 123 games for the Blackhawks in his career, scoring 17 goals.
The Sabres' comeback was complete at 2:39 of the third period when Hinostroza outworked former Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe in front to score his 11th of the season. It’s only taken him 47 games in Buffalo to net 11 goals.
Hinostroza did have a hiccup later in the period, though. He took a really dumb cross-checking penalty on Sam Lafferty, and Chicago capitalized on the power play with Alex DeBrincat ripping home his 38th of the season off the back of Dustin Tokarski.
With the way this game was going, you knew the Sabres weren’t going to give up.
Casey Mittelstadt did some slick stickhandling and got the puck to Olofsson, who relayed it quickly to Tuch, who was going to the net. Tuch tied the game again with his first goal in eight games, and his second goal in 19 games.
Tuch tied it at 17:46, and it looked like the Sabres were going to overtime for the sixth-straight game. However, Skinner got a puck in front and probably would’ve scored had Dylan Strome not hooked him down with 1:09 left in regulation.
Sometimes you have to get a break, and the Sabres did.
On the power play, Rasmus Dahlin fed Thompson in the left circle for a one-time attempt. Thompson’s stick exploded into pieces, but the puck made it to the back wall and bounced back into the crease with Lankinen having no idea that the puck was there. It hit the back of his skate and made it to the back of the net with 11.3 seconds left.
At that point, Buffalo took its first lead of the game, and eventually its fourth win in six games. Buffalo is 4-0-2 in that time.
The Sabres are 8-3-2 in their last 13 games, which is a points percentage of .692.
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It was also the Sabres' first win in Chicago since Ryan Miller beat them, 2-1, in January of 2007. It was their first game in the "Windy City" since Nov. 17, 2019.
The Sabres will get Tuesday off and then host the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
