20210403 Final Horn Olofsson Mediawall 01

For the second game in a row, the Buffalo Sabres rallied back late against the New York Rangers to tie the game.
On Thursday, Tage Thompson scored with 3.6 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime. On Saturday, Victor Olofsson ripped a shot from the high slot to even things up at KeyBank Center with 3:41 left in the third period.
While the Rangers won Thursday's game in overtime, Buffalo won Saturday's contest 3-2 in the shootout.
Thompson scored the deciding shootout goal.
Casey Mittelstadt scored Buffalo's other regulation goal. Linus Ullmark made 28 saves through 65 minutes and stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout.
In his career, Ullmark is 7-3 in the shootout with a save percentage of .868, which is second all-time only to Malcolm Subban (minimum 20 attempts faced).
Buffalo is now 3-2 in the shootout this season. The team also has points in four-straight games (2-0-2).
Artemi Panarin scored twice for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin stopped 27 shots through regulation and overtime.

What happened

The Ranger struck first on the power play. With 9:58 remaining, Panarin scored on a bad angle as the puck found its way to him along the right halfwall. With Ullmark out of position, he was able to pot it quickly.
On a 2-on-1 with Taylor Hall with 6:57 left in the first, Mittelstadt elected to shoot from the right faceoff dot and drilled the puck top shelf to tie the game.
Panarin scored again to give the Rangers the lead, one-timing an Adam Fox pass from the left wing in past Ullmark with 2:08 remaining in the second period. Buffalo challenged that the play was offside, but the call stood, resulting in the Sabres being assessed a minor penalty.
The Rangers came close to taking a two-goal lead heading into the third, but the clock had already expired before the final shot of the period crossed the goal line.

Olofsson tied the game with his 10th of the year to force overtime on a nice pass from Kyle Okposo.
Each team recorded one shot on goal in the extra period.
In the shootout, Olofsson and Mittelstadt were denied before Thompson broke through in the third round. Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko could not beat Ullmark.

Roll the highlight film

Here's the shootout winner:

NYR@BUF: Thompson, Ullmark lead Sabres to SO victory

Worth mentioning

Tonight's game marked the first of four games in April with fans in attendance. Frontline workers were previously in the stands for Buffalo's Hockey Fights Cancer Night on March 18.
The dates, times and opponents for the remaining three games with fans in the building are:
Friday, April 9 vs. Washington Capitals (7 p.m.)
Saturday, April 17 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (3 p.m.)
Friday, April 23 vs. Boston Bruins (7 p.m.)
Additional information for fans attending Sabres games this season can be found at Sabres.com/FAQ. For more information on ticket prices and availability, fans can contact the Sabres Box Office at (716) 855-4444.

Coming up

Buffalo hits the road for one game against the New Jersey Devils. Faceoff on Tuesday from Prudential Center is set for 7 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550. Pregame coverage on MSG begins at 6:30.