Weissbach, Peterka fuel late comeback in SO win over Blue Jackets

Don Granato made an appeal to his players as the Sabres felt their way through their preseason opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
The gist of the message: Stop thinking and go to work.
"My challenge to them was, 'Don't overanalyze anything. We're not playing hard enough. We need to elevate our intensity and passion for the game,'" Granato said. "I think that gets you in the game more."

That mindset carried the Sabres all the way back from a 4-1 deficit in the third period and propelled them to a 5-4 shootout victory at Nationwide Arena. JJ Peterka and Linus Weissbach scored goals in the final 2:04 of regulation to complete the comeback and force overtime.

Arttu Ruotsalainen and Michael Mersch also scored goals for the Sabres. Goaltender Aaron Dell stopped 12 of 15 shots before giving way to Dustin Tokarski, who turned away all but one of the 17 shots he faced and was perfect on three shootout attempts.
Jack Quinn scored the lone goal in the shootout.
"I think we just played with heart in the third," Peterka said. "Everyone was working for everyone and everyone was supporting, everyone wanted us to get the puck deep, to get the pucks on the net and everyone was also cheering for each other. That was an awesome feeling."
Peterka was one of a handful of players making their NHL preseason debuts, along with Quinn, Weissbach, and defenseman Oskari Laaksonen. Granato hoped for the game to be an introduction to the intricacies of playing against NHL competition. His message during the game was less about winning that it was about simply maximizing their intensity.
That they found a way to win in the end was icing on the cake.
"Everything should be meaningful, but in perspective," Granato said. "… It's preseason, it's not regular season NHL level by any means. But it's like when you go play in the backyard against your friends. You want to win. So, we have to have that approach any night."
Mersch set the stage for the comeback early in the third period when he drove to the blue paint and punched in a pass from Ryan MacInnis.
The score remained 4-2 until Weissbach set up Peterka's one-time goal with 2:04 remaining. Weissbach pounced on a loose puck off an offensive-zone faceoff and made an immediate feed to Peterka, who dropped to one knee as he scored from the slot.

Weissbach buried a rebound for the game-tying goal with 53.4 seconds remaining. Vinnie Hinostroza shot from the left side with Brett Murray screening Columbus goaltender Jet Greaves, who kicked the puck toward Weissbach to the right of the net.

The back-to-back scoring plays capped an impressive debut from Weissbach, who earlier in the game deked through traffic to create a scoring chance in the slot. The winger is entering his first pro season after completing his collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin.
"He makes plays under pressure," Granato said. "He made a lot of plays under pressure. At moments where there's limited time and space, he senses and feels what's around him and the right play to make. He's slippery. Very slippery player and obviously a very intelligent hockey player."
Tokarski stopped Blue Jackets defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov on a breakaway in overtime to send the game to a shootout. Quinn drifted right to left toward the slot and faked a shot five-hole before pulling the puck back and slipping it by Greaves for the deciding goal.

"He pulled that off a couple of times in the practices, too," Peterka said. "I knew if he comes like that on the goalie, he will put that one in."
The Sabres return to KeyBank Center for two practice sessions on Wednesday. They pick up their preseason schedule with back-to-back games on Thursday at Detroit and on Friday at home against Pittsburgh. Info on how to watch every preseason game can be found here.