O'Reilly scores in final seconds, but Sabres fall to Ducks in OT

For a moment, the tale of the game between the Buffalo Sabres and the Anaheim Ducks at KeyBank Center on Tuesday night was one of redemption. Ryan O'Reilly scored on his own net to give Anaheim a third-period lead, only to then tie the game in dramatic fashion with 14.5 seconds remaining.
Instead, the game ended like all too many others have for Buffalo this season: with a point left on the table. Adam Henrique took a shot that deflected off the stick of Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and beat Robin Lehner up high, giving the Ducks a 4-3 win in overtime.
Buffalo's overtime reccord fell to 3-10 with the loss.

"It's tough," alternate captain Jack Eichel said. "You get one point. You battle back, you play a good hockey team and you feel like maybe you deserve the second one, but you don't get it."

Eichel led the way with a goal and an assist for the Sabres, while Sam Reinhart tallied a pair of helpers. O'Reilly and Zemgus Girgensons each scored a goal, while Lehner made 29 saves on 33 shots.
Rickard Rakell, Ondrej Kase and Corey Perry scored goals for Anaheim. Ryan Miller made 30 saves.
Henrique's goal was preceded by an errant pass on the part of Ristolainen, who was unable to connect with Eichel as he sped through the neutral zone in overtime. The missed opportunity resulted in a crucial change of possession, as Henrique scored the winning goal coming back the other way.
Ristolainen's missed pass may have been the most memorable, but Eichel said it was lackluster execution throughout the game that cost the Sabres in an otherwise strong performance.
"I thought we did good things, but you battle back against a desperate hockey team and obviously you want the two points," he said. "I think there's the opportunity to make a few plays and we're just failing to make them. I think that's been the tale of our season."
Execution hurt the Sabres particularly in the second period, which they began with a 1-0 lead thanks to a shorthanded goal from Girgensons. Rakell scored a power-play goal on a rebound to tie the game just 21 seconds into the period, and the Sabres were outshot 14-5 until the second intermission.
Buffalo nearly escaped the period with a 2-1 lead despite the lopsided shot totals, thanks to a power-play goal scored by Eichel with 2:42 remaining. The Ducks answered, however, by scoring again on a rebound, this time off the stick of Kase in the final minute of the period.

The Sabres showed their resiliency in the third period, outshooting the Ducks 15-7. Even when they surrendered the lead on O'Reilly's own goal - which was attributed to Perry - they continued to pepper Miller with shots while bodies clogged the front of the net.
O'Reilly was hard on himself afterward for the own goal, although he was able to offer a reasonable explanation. He saw bodies in the corner, so he attempted to pick up the loose puck in front of Lehner and carry it behind the net to begin a breakout. Instead, the puck deflected in off Lehner's stick.
"It's a difficult place to be and I've been there before," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "You try to battle back mentally. It was a credit him, it was a credit to our team that we applied some pressure."
O'Reilly tied the game with a one-time shot off a feed from Eichel. It could have been the tying goal in a dramatic victory; instead it was a footnote in an effort that came up short.
In the big picture, though, it was a minor reward on a night that the team worked in the face of adversity.
"The two points were there and it's frustrating not to get them," O'Reilly said. "But I thought a lot of guys played well tonight. There's some guys who really worked hard, finished a lot of checks tonight. It's more of a complete effort that we need to be more consistent with."

Starting strong

Housley emphasized the importance of starting strong against the Ducks, who began the night havingn lost a high-scoring affair in Toronto less than 24 hours earlier. The Sabres got the start they were looking for, albeit not in the fashion their coach had in mind.
Buffalo took three penalties in the first period but emerged with a 1-0 lead thanks to a shorthanded goal by Girgensons, his second such goal in the last three games. It was the seventh shorthanded goal scored by the Sabres this season, tying them for third in the NHL.
Casey Nelson earned his first point of the season with the lone assist on the goal. Nelson broke up an attempted pass in the Buffalo zone, pushing the puck toward the leftwing boards. Girgensons won the race to the puck, pushed it past Ryan Getzlaf at the blue line, and scored off his own rebound.

McCabe leaves with injury

Jake McCabe sustained an injury during the first period and did not return. Housley had no update following the game other than to say the defenseman will be reevaluated on Wednesday.
McCabe has played in all 53 games for Buffalo this season and ranks third amongst the team's defensemen with an average ice time of 19:42. The Sabres are already without Zach Bogosian on defense, out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his hip in late January.

Up next

The Sabres conclude their homestand with a game against the New York Islanders on Thursday night, and they'll be wearing the same jerseys they wore for the 2018 Bridgestone Winter Classic at Citi Field on New Year's Day.
Family Packs - which include four 300-Level tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and four popcorns - are available here.
Can't make it downtown? Coverage on MSG-B begins at 6:30 p.m. with the GMC Game Night Pregame Show, or you can listen to the game live on WGR 550. Puck drop is scheduled for 7.