Jokiharju, Sabres rally for OT win against Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Henri Jokiharju scored at 1:29 of overtime, and the Buffalo Sabres rallied for a 3-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Jokiharju won it with a one-timer from between the circles after a feed from Alex Tuch. The goal came after Dylan Cozens tied it 2-2 with 37 seconds left, knocking in a loose puck in front with Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen pulled for an extra attacker.

“It was a weird game for sure,” Jokiharju said. “’Luukky’ was unreal again, so that’s good that we got three goals over there and keep them to two, so that was nice.”

Casey Mittelstadt also scored for the Sabres (24-26-4), who lost three of their previous four games. Luukkonen made 30 saves.

“Credit to our guys to fight through there,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “Kept it simple. … Good finish, good effort, and I loved the way it happened.

“We had a lot of guys who didn’t look like themselves. I don’t think [they] felt like themselves, but [we] had to find a way to grind it out under a lot of adversity late.

Declan Chisholm scored his first NHL goal, and Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the Wild (25-23-6), who had won four in a row. Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves.

“A chance to get six out of six [points] this week, we got five out of six, so I think overall it was a pretty good week for us,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I thought we played some really good hockey and style of game that gives us the best chance to win, and so I think we’ve got to build on that. We’ve got another big week coming up.”

Tage Thompson appeared to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 18:57 of the first period with a one-timer from the right circle on the power play, but Minnesota successfully challenged that Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin had entered the zone offside.

But Mittelstadt scored 39 seconds into the third period on a 2-on-1 to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead.

“I think (the) puck just came around, Luukky made a nice play and it got by their defensemen,” Mittlestadt said. “Two-on-1, and [I was] just lucky enough to capitalize.”

Eriksson Ek tied 1-1 at 4:02 with a wrist shot from the slot after a drop pass from Kirill Kaprizov.

It was Eriksson Ek’s 25th goal of the season.

“It [stinks],” Eriksson Ek said. “We know we need points. Yeah, it’s tough right now.”

Chisholm, making his Wild debut after being claimed off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 29, gave them a 2-1 lead at 11:21 during a four-minute power play, a wrist shot that found its way through traffic after Marco Rossi won a face-off in the offensive zone.

The 24-year-old defenseman was playing his fifth NHL game.

“After I scored that goal, I just wanted the game to end right there so we did get the win,” Chisholm said. “But weird wave of emotions coming in. Obviously super happy to score that goal.

“It's probably the best feeling I’ve ever had playing hockey, but [stinks] to lose and you really want to win that game.”

NOTES: Dahlin was plus-2 in 30:47 of ice time. … With an assist, Buffalo forward Jordan Greenway has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past three games. … Thompson had two assists and five shots on goal. … Eriksson Ek (four goals, two assists) and Kaprizov (one goal, five assists) each has a four-game point streak. … Gustavsson started for the eighth time in 11 games.