Buffalo N.Y. (WGR) - The Buffalo Sabres improved their defensive play by a lot on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.
Buffalo had allowed only seven shots on goal, which included four power plays opportunities, through 33:53 of game time. However, they left the second period down 2-0.
Minnesota came into the game unbeaten through two games, and had outscored their opponents, 7-2, along the way.
Jesper Wallstedt is one of the best young goalies in the NHL, and he was certainly playing like it Tuesday night. Wallstedt was taken 20th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, and is 22-12-7 in his NHL career with a 2.62 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.
Trying to come back two-goals down against that team and that goalie would've been a daunting task, but the Sabres never gave up on the fine effort they showed in this game, and came roaring back to win, 3-2 in overtime.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff shortened the bench and went with three lines in the third period.
Buffalo's team's leading scorer, Owen Power, passed up a golden opportunity to shoot the puck from the slot, but stayed with it and put it towards the net. The puck hit Wild forward Blake Coleman before then hitting Noah Östlund in the shin guard to cut the Minnesota lead in half.
Minutes later, Sabres goalie Colten Ellis made a game-saving save on Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who was open in the left circle.
It looked like that was going to be the only way the Sabres could score on Wallstedt, but Peyton Krebs was put back on a line with Tage Thompson and went to work.
Krebs got in on Wild superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes, causing him to turn the puck over. Thompson found a crease in the slot, and Krebs put it right in his wheelhouse to make it 2-2, thus forcing this game to eventually get to overtime.
Ellis had to make two huge saves on Matt Boldy in overtime, as the Wild winger had seven shots on goal in this game.
For the most part, the Sabres controlled the overtime period, and finally Thompson got the puck along the right wing wall. He fed Jiri Kulich in the corner, who then found Power in front, coming off the bench and he made no mistake.
In three games, Power has one goal and four assists for five points.
The comeback is of, course, the most impressive thing of the night, but a close second was how well the Sabres played defensively. That fed their offense, and eventually led to a win.
Minnesota did have two first-period power plays and only four shots overall.
Ellis had no chance on Danila Yurov's power play goal, as it hit Mattias Samuelsson's stick and ramped up.
The second goal came after Mike McCarron picked and wiped out Josh Norris in the Minnesota end, and there was no call on the blatant interference. Maxim Shabanov then came through the left circle and beat Ellis on a shot that you'd like a big save on.
Other than that, Ellis totally owned the crease and earned another start with this game.
After the second period, Sabres winger Josh Doan only had three shifts.
"He's struggling right now. He had a little bit of a lower-body issue last game, I think it's effecting his play. Although if you asked him, he'd say no. But he'll find his game," said Ruff following Tuesday's win. "I've got all the faith in the world that he'll get to his game. It's the path that a young guy takes sometimes. It's not a straight line. You're going to have to battle through some tougher times, and he's a kid that's up for any battle."
After the game, the Sabres, Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning were all 2-1-0 and tied for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Buffalo next hosts the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
