Sabres vs. Wild: Owen Power's Overtime Winner Completes Buffalo's Third-Period Rally

The Buffalo Sabres have picked up a peculiar habit in the first week of the season. They spend two periods making their fans nervous, then flip the switch once the third period starts.

Down 2-0 after two periods, Buffalo got third-period goals from Noah Ostlund and Tage Thompson, then Owen Power won it 4:22 into overtime as the Sabres beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Tuesday night at KeyBank Center. Per the AP, it was the second straight game Buffalo won after trailing entering the third period.

Minnesota Strikes Twice in a Flash

For 33 minutes, nothing happened on the scoreboard. Then Minnesota scored twice in 1:45. Peyton Krebs went to the box for interference at 13:17 of the second, and Danila Yurov took a pass from Jared Spurgeon in the right circle and hammered a one-timer short side past Colten Ellis at 13:53. At 15:38, Quinn Hughes carried the puck up ice to the left circle and slid it across to Maxim Shabanov, who snapped a shot past Ellis for a 2-0 lead.

Both goals were firsts of the season for a pair of players the Wild are counting on. Coach John Hynes said as much afterward. "I think Yurov and Shabanov are two guys that we need to step up and play well for us. I think they have," he said.

The Turning Point

Buffalo's comeback started with the kind of goal nobody draws up. At 3:55 of the third, Power tried to thread a pass to Ostlund at the back door, and the puck caromed off the skate of Minnesota's Blake Coleman and then off Ostlund's leg into the net. Ugly? Absolutely. Did it change everything? Also yes.

Before that bounce, the Sabres were trailing by two with 16 minutes to play. After it, they were the team pushing. Coach Lindy Ruff said that was the plan. "We missed too many opportunities early, but we talked about just sticking with it, getting one in the first 10 minutes and we could get back in the hockey game," he said.

Thompson Hits a Milestone

The equalizer was much prettier. Krebs, back from the penalty box and very much forgiven, threaded a feed into the slot, and Thompson needed only a flick of the wrists to beat Jesper Wallstedt on the stick side at 9:38, tying it 2-2. NHL.com noted the goal was his 400th point in a Sabres uniform, reached in his 491st game, and only 15 players in team history got there before him.

Thompson gave all the credit to his setup man. "It's not hard to have chemistry with a guy like that," he said. "He works extremely hard. I can't say enough good things about that guy."

Wallstedt kept Minnesota alive late in regulation, flashing the glove to rob Thompson from the slot with 3:28 left, according to the AP. Ellis made three saves in overtime at the other end.

Power Ends It

The winner was born from a miss. Thompson's drive to the net produced a shot that sailed wide, Jiri Kulich retrieved the puck behind the goal line and found Power in the slot, and Power's wrister tucked inside the left post at 4:22 of overtime. Kulich also scored the decisive goal against Chicago on Saturday, per the AP, so he is becoming a closer.

Power kept it modest. "Just came off the bench and Kulich made a good play behind the net, and I was just trying to get one on net and fortunate that it went in," he said.

Who Delivered

Owen Power: The winner, an assist and a plus-3 in 29:04. He has also picked up an assist in all three of Buffalo's games so far, and NHL.com noted he is only the eighth defenseman in Sabres history to manage that.

Tage Thompson: A goal, an assist on the winner and a milestone.

Colten Ellis: 18 saves on 20 shots in his season debut. The AP noted he sits third on Buffalo's goalie depth chart and got the call because co-starter Alex Lyon is still working back from a shoulder injury.

Jiri Kulich: The setup on the winner and a plus-2.

Jesper Wallstedt: 25 saves on 28 shots for Minnesota, including the late glove stop on Thompson.

Quinn Hughes: An assist in a heavy 29:30 of ice time.

Stats That Matter

• 28-20: Buffalo's advantage in shots on goal.
• 26-12: Minnesota's edge in hits.
• 0 for 10: Buffalo's power play to start the season after an 0-for-2 night, per the AP. Minnesota's penalty kill is 9 for 9, per NHL.com.
• 1:45: The gap between Minnesota's two second-period goals.
• 30-24: Buffalo in the faceoff circle, a 55.6 percent rate.

What It Means

Buffalo is 2-1-0 and 2-0-0 at home, and Ruff liked far more than the result. "We played a real good game," he said. The power play remains the obvious problem, and the Sabres host Dallas on Thursday.

Minnesota is 2-0-1 and banks a point, but per the AP it let slip a chance at a 3-0 start, something the franchise has managed only five times and not since 2021-22. The Wild also lost forward Nick Foligno to an upper-body injury late in the first period, per NHL.com; he never returned, and Hynes had nothing new on him afterward. On a happier note, Kirill Kaprizov reached 400 career NHL games. Wallstedt was honest about his team's night. "It's a hard one to digest right now," he said. "I don't know if we 100 percent deserved to win today." The Wild visit Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Closing Take

The Sabres are the friend who never starts the group project until the night before and somehow still turns in an A. It works until it doesn't, and a power play stuck at 0 for 10 suggests they cannot keep living on third-period heroics. Minnesota, meanwhile, found the silver lining. "But the good thing is we got one point and we were in it for a long time," Wallstedt said. In a long season, Buffalo will take the two.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.