Sabres send Wild to seventh loss in past nine games

BUFFALO -- Jeff Skinner scored twice in the third period, helping the Buffalo Sabres hand the Minnesota Wild their seventh loss in the past nine games, 5-4 at KeyBank Center on Friday.

After Minnesota scored twice to take a 3-2 lead 4:59 into the period, Skinner tied it 3-3 at 12:20 when he scored into an open net after fanning on his first attempt and having his second one stopped by Wild goalie Kaapo Kahkonen.
Skinner then put the Sabres ahead 4-3 at 16:40 after Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin failed to clear the puck along the right boards with Buffalo forward Alex Tuch pressuring him. Skinner got the puck, skated to the left and scored at the side of the net after his attempt from the slot was blocked.
"I got a little lucky there," Skinner said. "Obviously the first bounce, but then I kind of fanned on a shot. I tried to beat the goalie back and then, again, it kind of is just a big scramble and it kind of just pops right to me. I guess when we talk about sort of trying to find bounces, those are the ones that you remember. …
"(On the second goal) again, it's a fortunate bounce, but you've got to put yourself in those situations. I thought 'Tuchy' did a great job on that one to sort of create that space."

Kyle Okposo and Casey Mittelstadt each had a goal and an assist, and Rasmus Dahlin had two assists for the Sabres (18-30-8), who won their second straight. Craig Anderson made 29 saves.
"I loved our third period, I don't know what else to say," Okposo said. "I think it's been pretty well documented we've had a lot of third periods where teams have come back on us and we've got on our heels. … We just stayed on our toes the whole time."
Kirill Kaprizov had two goals and an assist, Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist, and Jared Spurgeon had two assists for the Wild (32-18-3). Kahkonen made 33 saves.
Minnesota rallied for two quick goals in the third period to win 5-4 at the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
"I guess what goes around comes around," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "We get up there and we thought we're in a pretty good spot. Teams don't quit. We know that. We don't quit, so I don't care where we are, you know who we're playing. The league's real good."

Mittelstadt put the Sabres ahead 1-0 on the power play at 8:51 of the first period when he connected on the rebound of a Dahlin point shot that bounced to him at the right side of the net. It was the first goal against the Wild for Mittelstadt, who is from Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
"I think most of the guys would tell you I'm pretty, I guess, proud of Minnesota," Mittelstadt said. "So, yeah, that one felt good. I've got my parents here and a couple of other family members, so that one definitely felt good."
Ryan Hartman tied it 1-1 at 15:25 from the top of the right face-off circle with Anderson screened. It was his third goal in the past two games.
Okposo gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead on the power play at 6:01 of the second period. Mittelstadt carried the puck and shot from the slot, and the rebound went to Okposo at the bottom of the right circle.
Fiala tied it 2-2 at 3:20 of the third with a wrist shot through traffic from the top of the right circle. Kaprizov put Minnesota in front 3-2 on the power play at 4:59 from the top of the left circle.
"Obviously special teams are a big part of it," Spurgeon said. "And we did get a big kill there to start it off in the third there, and a power-play goal. But earlier in the game, we've got to find a way to kill those."

Victor Olofsson extended the lead to 5-3 with 1:06 remaining when he scored into an empty net.
Kaprizov cut it to 5-4 with 34 seconds left and Kahkonen pulled for the extra attacker.
"We've had this talk a lot of times," Fiala said. "We want to play with the lead. … If it happens that they score the first goal, we can't just give up. That's a good point for our team, that we never give up. We came back now, two nights in a row, so that's a good point. We have to figure out the starts and stuff, but like I said before, we had no panic. There are so many more games. And we have a great feeling in the room still."
NOTES: Wild forward Mats Zuccarello was scratched with an upper-body injury. Evason said he hopes he'll be available Sunday when Minnesota hosts the Dallas Stars. … Dahlin extended his home point streak to eight games, the longest by a Sabres defenseman since Phil Housley did it twice during the 1989-90 season. Dahlin has scored 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) during the streak. … Buffalo forward Tage Thompson had a three-game goal streak end.