Sabres battle back to earn point in OT loss to Canucks

Midway through the third period of the Sabres’ 4-3 overtime loss to Vancouver on Friday, an ill-advised penalty and an unlucky bounce appeared to spell doom for Buffalo.

Instead, Sabres forward Dylan Cozens made amends for his double minor earlier in the period, tallying a goal and an assist to help his team collect a hard-fought point.

"We played with desperation and that's what this team has,” Cozens said. “We don't have any quit, we're going to battle until the last buzzer and we're going to keep fighting until the game's over."

Bowen Byram opened the scoring 17:33 into the first period, tallying his fourth goal of the season on a terrific 200-foot play. The defenseman grabbed a loose puck and evaded Elias Pettersson to escape the Buffalo zone. After gaining the offensive blue line, Byram dropped the puck for Zach Benson and continued toward the net, where Benson found him for an uncontested tap-in goal.

“It was one of those things where he kicks it, makes a hell of a drive and takes two guys with him,” Benson said. “I was in the position where I was gonna shoot. Then, last second, I wanted to sauce it, and it kind of came off my stick funny but landed in a perfect area. Obviously, he made an elite play.”

The second period belonged to Vancouver, even though they outshot Buffalo just 9-7. Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland were stopped on breakaways and Danton Heinen drilled the crossbar while shorthanded.

But late in the period, a Brock Boeser takeaway along the offensive boards led to a Pius Suter slot chance, a net-front rebound and Jake DeBrusk’s game-tying goal at 18:12.

Vancouver took a 2-1 lead 5:15 into the third as Boeser connected with Garland for a back-door, power-play tap-in after Cozens had gone to the box for a double-minor – two minutes for holding, two more for disputing the call.

“We discussed it on the bench,” Ruff said. “Sometimes you don’t like the call, you’ve got to keep your composure."

"It’s just a dumb second penalty by me,” Cozens said. “I wanted to get that one back for the boys.”

Suter added a breakaway goal – set up by a fortunate bounce off Garland’s shot block – at 8:59. That quickly, a pair of unfavorable breaks had left the Sabres trailing by two.

Then Cozens got one back at 13:18 in the third period, beating Kevin Lankinen with a wrister from the right circle. And at 14:57, Benson’s shot from above the left circle hit Cozens, then Alex Tuch, before bouncing over the Vancouver netminder.

The game advanced to overtime, where Quinn Hughes found Conor Garland in tight to secure a ninth win in 11 road games for the Canucks.

Still, the Sabres received a standings point to show for their late, two-goal comeback.

"We didn't have any quit and we played with desperation,” Cozens said. “It's on me to not take that penalty there and put ourselves in that situation, but the boys got it back and we got a point. But it sucks to not finish that off."

“It’s a heck of a point,” Ruff said. “They’re a tough club – we knew that going in. These last two games have been just tough, hard hockey.”

Here’s more from Friday’s overtime loss.

1. A common theme between Buffalo’s second and third goals, along with Cozens, was Benson’s activity in the offensive zone. As Ruff continues to stress, every player’s time will come to crash the net and create chaos near the crease. Benson did just that on Cozens’ first tally, setting up at the far post in position for a potential redirection.

“Where he was on the Cozens goal, again – he’s the guy in the paint,” Ruff said. “His desire to do the right thing at the right time is probably second to none on the team.”

Net-front activity played a central role in the Sabres’ comeback, especially after they failed to disrupt Lankinen for a large portion of the afternoon.

“I think we just played more direct,” Benson said. “You’re down 3-1, you want to get pucks funneled to the net. I thought last 10 minutes we had way more bodies at the net and created so much havoc. It was only about time one went in, and once you get one, the floodgates can kind of open from there.”

Benson finished a strong all-around performance with a plus-three rating, 2:35 of shorthanded ice time and a pair of assists – his second multi-point game of the season, the other coming Nov. 7 at the Rangers.

2. Tage Thompson led Buffalo with four shots on goal Friday, none more dangerous than the one in overtime. JJ Peterka wheeled around the net, drew all three Canucks and passed to a wide-open Thompson in the slot. A deke and backhand attempt couldn’t beat Lankinen, though.

“You’ve got to give their goalie a lot of credit – he made a heck of a save on the play,” Ruff said. “I thought [Thompson] could’ve had two or three tonight, where he was shooting from. Coming back off injury, sometimes it takes a game or two.”

3. Thompson had Buffalo’s only scoring chance in an extra period dominated by reigning Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes. The defenseman’s skating ability, vision and passing precision made 3-on-3 action difficult for the Sabres.

“He’s a hard guy to chase around, for sure,” Ruff said. “World-class skater, cutting back edges. You’ve got to use almost your best skaters.”

“He’s an unbelievable player,” Cozens added.

After a two-assist performance, Hughes continues to lead Vancouver with 25 points this season.

Up next

The Sabres conclude the back-to-back with a Saturday night game at the New York Islanders.

Coverage on MSG begins at 7 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7:30.