The Sabres led 2-0 after the first period on the strength of goals from Zach Benson and Tage Thompson. They had opportunities to extend their lead during the second period, including a power play that was spent entirely in the offensive zone, but sent multiple chances off posts.
It was in the moments after that unsuccessful power play that Matt Coronato found open space at the back side of the net to tap in a feed from MacKenzie Weegar and put Calgary on the board. The goal was scored under unusual circumstances, with Dennis Gilbert engaged in what Ruff described as a “wrestling match” with Flames forward Justin Kirkland at the red line.
Gilbert and Kirkland were both assigned roughing minors, but the goal counted following a discussion among officials.
“[The referee] said the puck went in in before he had his arm up,” Ruff said.
Calgary tied the game with 4:18 remaining in regulation when Jonathan Huberdeau corralled a rebound and passed to Mikael Backlund, who picked the far-side corner from the left circle. Once again, the goal a product of unfortunate circumstances – Peterka had been forced to skate to the top of the zone to retrieve his stick and, in doing so, left Backlund with time and space.
Two unusual goals against, combined with their own chances that fell just short, could have been enough to knock the Sabres off their game.
“I’ve used the phrase, ‘You’ve got to be comfortable being uncomfortable,’” Ruff said. “The game got uncomfortable. And you have to trust how you’re playing.”
The Sabres were dealt another adverse hand in overtime following a call for too many men on the ice, which set the Flames up with a 4-on-3 power play for the final 1:20 of the extra period. Connor Clifton came up with a block, Jordan Greenway played the entirety of the penalty kill, and Luukkonen stopped a point-blank backhand attempt from Nazem Kadri.
The Buffalo penalty kill finished the game 3-for-3 and is now 10-for-10 over the past three contests.
“The 4-on-3 is something that rarely happens and it’s kind of hard to play against, but I think that’s mostly the guys have been playing great in front of me,” Luukkonen said. “Making blocks, playing hard and not giving them much. They made it easy for me to make the saves I needed to and I think it was a good penalty kill today.”
The Sabres have won three straight games for the second time this season. Their previous winning streak was followed by three consecutive losses, an experience they intend to learn from this time around.
The goal is to stick to their game plan, regardless of the circumstances – just as they did on Saturday.
“When we have losses, we respond pretty well,” Thompson said. “Now, we need to respond well when we have some wins. … We just continue to plug along in the same way and just kind of continue to grind teams down.”
Here’s more from the win over the Flames.
