Sabres' OT victory over Blackhawks was symbolic of a memorable season

Casey Mittelstadt considered the way this season ended - the third-period comeback, the overtime goal, the tribute to a legend - and felt it was symbolic of everything the Sabres had been through.
The Sabres fought through two periods without a goal, then erased a pair of third-period deficits before Mittelstadt provided one last highlight-film moment for Rick Jeanneret to narrate.
On the final night of RJ's Hall-of-Fame career, the Sabres had won in oooovertime.
"I think that kind of sums up the whole year for us," Mittelstadt said.

The Sabres will enter the summer on the heels of a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, one that contained reminders of a season that no player wanted to end.
It was a season of culture building, as indicated by the two men who captured the attention of the crowd before the puck even dropped against the Blackhawks.
One was Kyle Okposo, the veteran rock of the Sabres' roster. Okposo's leadership - and resurgent on-ice performance - captured the attention of the fans, who voted him as the recipient of the Rick Martin Memorial Award. Okposo, who was scratched due to an injury, watched with his family as teammates spoke on the video board about what he meant to the franchise.

The other was Malcolm Subban, a goaltender who was acquired in December and appeared in just four games before sustaining a season-ending injury. He still managed to form a close enough bond within the Sabres' tightly knit group, so much so that his teammates egged him on to perform the U.S. national anthem. Their excitement was visible throughout his performance.
"It was unreal," Tage Thompson said. "We hear him sing in the locker room, so we've been pushing for that for a long time. I know he was pretty nervous but that hyped everybody up for the game. I know the crowd loved it and the guy killed it. He's got some good pipes."

It was a season that required resilience. The Sabres started strong out of the gate but eventually experienced the struggles one might expect from a young roster, made worse by piling injuries and the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. They got healthy, established their identity, and went 16-9-3 during the final two months. That included a four-goal comeback in Chicago.
This second win over the Blackhawks took two comebacks. Tage Thompson erased a 1-0 deficit with his team-leading 38th goal of the season. When Taylor Raddysh put the Blackhawks back in front, Owen Power responded with his first goal on home ice.
"When you look at the season and our culture and what we want to build, I thought it was a good reward for our guys, hopefully symbolic," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "… You find something within to come back in that game. You give up a goal and again you find a way to get back in it."

This season was about earning the trust of the fanbase, a message that came from Okposo and Granato way back in the fall. The crowd of 16,505 for the finale was the second largest of the season, trailing only the night when Jeanneret's name was unveiled in the KeyBank Center rafters. The fans roared as the Sabres clawed their way back in the third period and hung around well after the game ended.
It made Granato think about his own love for hockey, fostered on outdoor ice and in basement scrimmages with his siblings in their childhood home outside Chicago.
"You grow up as a young kid like all our players do, that's what you love," Granato said. "And then you come to a place that also loves that and it's pretty special. It's pretty special. For us to be a part of this community, which is a hockey community with history, is spectacular. It's motivating, inspiring."
The season - for all the hope it conjured for the future - was also about the man who helped cultivate Buffalo's love for hockey more than five decades.
The Sabres gave Jeanneret a fitting script for his final game, then ushered him onto the ice for one more salute from an adoring crowd.

Mittelstadt and Cozens, who combined for the overtime goal, contemplated what they had accomplished.
"Me and Cozey we were talking," Mittelstadt said. "We're pretty proud to be his last call."