Sabres recover, defeat Wild in shootout

BUFFALO -- Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist for the Buffalo Sabres before scoring the only goal in the shootout for a 5-4 win against the Minnesota Wild at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

"We can't be taking any relief out of anything right now," Reinhart said of the Sabres, who are 3-6-0 in their past nine games. "The schedule's so important for us. The games are kind of winding down in a hurry, and we know how important every game is. We've got to play with a playoff atmosphere and take advantage of that every night."
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Sabres highlights]
Minnesota's Zach Parise tied the game 4-4 with 1:37 left in the third period when he scored off a scramble in front.
Evan Rodrigues, C.J. Smith and Rasmus Dahlin scored, and Jack Eichel had two assists for Buffalo (26-20-6), which won for the first time in three games. Linus Ullmark made 41 saves.
Jared Spurgeon scored two goals, and Ryan Suter and Luke Kunin had two assists for the Wild (26-22-5), who have lost three games in a row after winning their previous three. Devan Dubnyk made 35 saves.

"We need all of [the points] right now," Parise said. "Especially in overtime, I thought we could have gotten out of there with two."
Rodrigues gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal from the top of the right face-off circle at 4:31 of the first period.
Minnesota forward Mikko Koivu left the game at 11:07 of the first period after he collided with Buffalo forward Tage Thompson in the neutral zone. Coach Bruce Boudreau didn't have an update after the game.
The Wild tied it 1-1 at 6:29 of the second period. Mikael Granlund passed from behind the net to Spurgeon in front, and the defenseman batted the puck out of midair.
Smith put the Sabres ahead 2-1 1:03 later, putting a pass from Reinhart into an open net from the bottom of the left circle at 7:32.
Dahlin extended the lead to 3-1 on the power play when his shot from the high slot went by a screened Dubnyk at 11:33.

"You have to have that ability to come back, but I'd love to see us play with the lead a little bit," Parise said. "It gets tough. You stress yourself out always fighting trying to come from behind. We've got to get ourselves a lead, whether it's a power-play goal, like they got tonight, or something, some way we've got to figure out how to get ourselves a lead."
Spurgeon scored his second of the night to cut it to 3-2 at 13:43, sweeping in a wraparound.
Charlie Coyle tied it 3-3 when he crashed the net and poked in a loose puck at 17:05 after it hit the right post.
"In the second, I thought we played pretty good," Spurgeon said. "I thought we had a lot of zone time, and it just happened that when they got a chance, they put it in. We stuck with it even in the third when they got that one. It wasn't very pretty, but we greased one out and were able to get a point. Any point right now is pretty important for us."
Minnesota outshot Buffalo 19-11 in the second period.

"We have a 3-1 lead, and that's a time to really lock it down and keep a simple game," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "I thought we were trying to get four, but not in the right way. In the defensive zone, guys were beating us back to the net."
Reinhart made it 4-3 at 6:25 of the third period when he scored from the left side of the net.
"You knew they were going to come out in the third period and be much better than they were in the second," Boudreau said. "That's the way hockey goes. We just fought hard right to the end to get that goal."

They said it

"He's done a great job. He's the unsung hero of the League, but nobody knows about him. It's good that he gets a little recognition." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who scored two goals
"I think that's been a big focus [for] us this year. I think earlier in the year we did a really good job with it. Obviously, it's always easy when you're winning games, but when you're going through a stretch like we have, it's really important to stay composed, and that's what we're doing right now. But it was a big one for us tonight. We have another day to work and prepare for Thursday (against the Carolina Hurricanes)." -- Sabres forward Sam Reinhart on keeping an even-keel, win or lose

Need to know

The Wild's five-game winning streak at Buffalo ended. … Dahlin's goal tied him with Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (2014-15) for the fifth-most points by an 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history (29). … The Wild lead the NHL in goals by defensemen (35).

What's next

Wild: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-WI, FS-N+, SNW, NHL.TV)
Sabres: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-SE, NHL.TV)