At The Final Horn | Sabres' late surge falls short against Sharks

The Buffalo Sabres came on strong in the third period, but were unable to climb out of an early hole in their 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
San Jose took a 3-0 lead in the first period at KeyBank Center thanks to goals from Matt Nieto, Timo Meier and Tomas Hertl.
Jeff Skinner and Zemgus Girgensons scored to put Buffalo back in the game. The Sabres outshot the Sharks 22-5 in the third period.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 18 saves for Buffalo while Adin Hill turned aside 37 Sabres shots.

The Sharks blocked 21 shots. Buffalo finished with 62 shot attempts to San Jose's 37.
Buffalo's power play was 1-for-3 while the penalty kill was 1-for-1.

How it happened

The Sharks struck first when Nieto one-timed a puck in front with 7:33 remaining in the opening period.
A long-range wrister from Meier 1:17 later beat Luukkonen to make it 2-0.
Then with 2:36 left, Hertl put the Sharks ahead by three.

Skinner put Buffalo on the board 7:56 into the second period when he found space in the slot and roofed a shot for his 11th goal of the season.
Girgensons got Buffalo within one with a power-play goal with 1:45 remaining in regulation. The Sabres pulled the goaltender to make it a 6-on-4 advantage and Girgensons potted a rebound after a big blast from Tage Thompson hit the post and made its way onto Girgensons' stick.

Roll the highlight film

Here's Girgensons' third power-play goal of the season:

Worthy of a mention

Before the game, the Sabres activated Girgensons, Dylan Cozens and Mark Jankowski from the NHL's COVID-19 protocol. The trio had not played since December 17.
With four other forwards unavailable due to COVID, Ryan MacInnis made his Sabres debut. He finished with 10:00 of ice time and two shots on goal.

Coming up

Saturday's game at Montreal has been postponed, so the Sabres do not play again until Tuesday.
It's Hometown Heroes Night presented by New Wave Energy as Buffalo hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m.
Tickets are on sale now.