Postgame Report | Cozens nets overtime winner on Ryan Miller Night

Throughout his career, Ryan Miller had a flair for the dramatic and on a night dedicated to him, the Buffalo Sabres delivered an emotional overtime victory.
Dylan Cozens scored 12 seconds into the extra period Thursday to lift the Sabres to a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Ryan Miller Night presented by KeyBank.
The Sabres inducted Miller, the franchise's winningest goaltender, into the team's Hall of Fame and retired his No. 30 in a pregame ceremony.
Alex Tuch and Victor Olofsson also scored for the Sabres, who never led in the game until Cozens netted the winner.
"The building was obviously rocking. On a night like this when it's full and they're celebrating such an unbelievable player to this organization, Ryan Miller, you just want to win so bad," Cozens said. "It really fuels us to win it for him on his special night and win it for all the fans who came."
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was strong in net, stopping 24 shots. Ilya Sorokin made 42 saves for the Islanders.
"Big game, big night. We were very happy to do this for him and it was something special tonight," Dahlin said. "We really wanted to win this game and we had a ton of chances. We could have been frustrated but we just kept going and we had the confidence for 60 minutes."

How it happened

FIRST PERIOD
Casey Mittelstadt had the first great opportunity of the game 2:10 in when his shot from the slot deflected off Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulok, off goaltender Ilya Sorokin and off the left post.
Brock Nelson, however, scored the game's first goal when he finished a 2-on-1 opportunity with Anthony Beauvillier at the 7:19 mark, redirecting the puck in front and past Luukkonen.
Luukkonen prevented the Islanders from going up 2-0 when he stretched out his right pad to stop Casey Cizikas in tight just 45 seconds later.

The Sabres settled in after that and controlled play for the remainder of the period, outshooting New York 18-5 in the period and having a 16-5 edge in scoring chances (and 9-2 in high-danger chances), according to Natural Stat Trick.
SECOND PERIOD
The Sabres tied things up 8:26 into the period when Tuch drifted to the front of the net and tipped in a point shot by Rasmus Dahlin for his 22nd goal of the season.

New York regained the lead with 1:30 left after some sustained zone time. Cizikas circled around the Sabres net and into the slot. He then found Matt Martin for a cross-ice one-timer that beat Luukkonen.
The Sabres put on some late pressure and Sorokin stopped a wrist shot by Jack Quinn as time expired in the period. The save was Sorokin's 30th of the night to that point.
THIRD PERIOD
Buffalo tied things up 9:32 into the third. Casey Mittelstadt fished the puck out of a scrum at the side of the net and found Olofsson from the left faceoff circle. Olofsson now has 19 on the year and is one away from his third 20-goal season.

Dahlin dangled his way in front for a great chance with 5:36 to go, but Sorokin once again stood tall.
With less than 8 seconds remaining, Luukkonen mad a huge pad save on Beauvillier to get Buffalo to overtime.
"He kept us in the game. He's turning into this monster this year, it's fun to watch," Dahlin said. "He's also just got to continue to grow. He's probably like Ryan one of the days in the future. We're happy to have him."
OVERTIME
Dahlin found Cozens with a long stretch pass and he fired in the first shot of the extra period to lift the Sabres to victory. It's the first overtime goal of Cozens' career.
"That was a crazy pass. We just kind of locked eye contact when I was curling and I just tried to get going as fast as I could," Cozens said. "He made a football pass to me, a little Hail Mary and I somehow managed to handle it."

Miller joined the team on the ice for a post-win celebration and a group photo.
"It's was unbelievable, first of all, just to meet him and get the win and have him on the ice, it was unreal," Luukkonen said. "How the crowd was tonight and how the fans packed the building and how well the atmosphere was tonight, it's one of the better experiences I've had in a Buffalo Sabres jersey."

What we learned

1. The team honored Miller, who played for the Sabres from 2002 until 2014, in a pregame ceremony. Miller became the 43rd member of the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame and the eighth player in franchise history to have his number retired.
   Eighteen alumni joined Miller and his family on the ice to watch No. 30 be raised to the rafters.

2. Tuch extended his point streak to three games with his goal (2+1). He has 20 points (9+11) in his last 16 games.
   With two assists, Dahlin has now recorded 33 points (6+27) in his last 29 games and Jeff Skinner has 30 points (13+17) in his last 23 contests.
   3. Vinnie Hinostroza cleared waivers before the game and was assigned to the Rochester Americans of the AHL. That made a roster spot available for JJ Peterka to be recalled.
   Peterka had been loaned to Rochester in the morning to allow the team to call up Luukkonen, who has started four of the Sabres' past five games.

Up next

Buffalo hosts the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday. Pregame coverage on MSG begins at noon. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the call on MSG and WGR 550 at 12:30.
Miller will be at the game and participate in a ceremonial faceoff.
It's also Youth Hockey Day and the first 5,000 kids in attendance will receive a "goathead" mini-stick.
Tickets are on sale now.