Sabres defeat Blackhawks in OT in season finale for each

BUFFALO -- Casey Mittelstadt scored at 2:07 of overtime and the Buffalo Sabres rallied for a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at KeyBank Center on Friday.

Mittelstadt poked in a rebound of a Dylan Cozens shot at the right of net. It was the final call for Buffalo broadcaster Rick Jeanneret, who is retiring after 51 seasons.
"It's a good way to end the year, I think," Mittelstadt said. "Obviously, there's been some ups and downs for everyone. It's a great way to end the year, a great way to end it for 'RJ'. Me and 'Cozey' we were talking, we're pretty proud to be his last call."
Owen Power and Tage Thompson scored for the Sabres (32-39-11), who ended the season with five wins in six games. Dustin Tokarski made 19 saves.
"It was tough at the beginning and obviously I think we fought a little bit after being sloppy at times, but not every game is going to be pretty," Thompson said. "Good teams find a way to win and we just fed off the energy of the crowd and each other on the bench. I don't think there was anyone that didn't think we were going to come back and win that game. That just shows the type of character we have in this group."

Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik scored, and Collin Delia made 33 saves for Chicago (28-42-12).
"It's never fun giving up leads. I think we can definitely work on that," Strome said. "Time and time again (this season), we were leading in the third, or in the second, and we kind of give it up. Whether it's just clamping down defensively or whatever it may be, obviously you can't give up leads. You're not going to win many games when you give up third period leads by three, four, two, one goals."

Kubalik gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 8:47 of the second period. Alex Vlasic drove down the left wing to below the left circle and sent a pass to Kubalik in the slot.
Thompson tied it 1-1 at 4:16 of the third period. Jeff Skinner intercepted Chicago defenseman Erik Gustafsson's rim around the end boards below the right circle and spun around to feed Thompson on the opposite side.
Strome made it 2-1 at 9:33 when he redirected a Caleb Jones shot by Tokarski from the front of the net.
Power tied it 2-2 at 14:22 with a shot from the high slot.
"Spectacular to see them take the game over," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "Some things I mentioned to the guys between periods, and that was going into the third period. It was a couple little things. Not even challenge them. I said, 'You guys know you have to take over. You have to take over. You know you can and throw the first two periods out, it was not what we wanted.' But they did."

The Sabres outshot the Blackhawks 14-4 in the third period and 5-0 in overtime.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," Chicago coach Derek King said of the end of the season. "It's like, what are we going to do tomorrow for our practice? It will sink in later. Unfortunate the way the season went. I thought we made some strides here for a while. Then we just kind of teetered off and lost our edge."
NOTES: Blackhawks defenseman Jake McCabe played his first game in Buffalo since signing with Chicago as a free agent in the offseason. McCabe, who was drafted by the Sabres in 2012, played parts of eight seasons with the team. … Skinner finished the season with 63 points, matching his career high done three previous times. … Sabres goalie Malcolm Subban, acquired from the Blackhawks on December 2, sang the American national anthem before the game.