Frederick Gaudreau scored the clinching goal in a shootout to give the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in Saint Paul, Minn.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Jared Spurgeon scored in regulation and Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves for the Wild, who have won two straight immediately after a three-game losing streak.
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Jack Quinn and Zemgus Girgensons scored for the Sabres, whose five-game winning streak ended. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 33 saves.
After intercepting Minnesota defenseman Jake Middleton’s pass up the right wall, Quinn held off forward Connor Dewar and skated down low before turning back up to the top of the zone and finally curling into the slot and beating Fleury stick side.
Luukkonen couldn’t hold onto a shot from the top of the left circle and got tangled up with Mats Zuccarello to the left of the crease as both went for the loose puck. Zuccarello got it first and quickly sent it over to Kaprizov below the goal line, and he fed Eriksson Ek for the tap-in to an open net.
Girgensons put the Sabres back in front at 9:50 of the second period. Peyton Krebs won a puck battle behind the net and sent it back to Kyle Okposo, who quickly dished off to an uncovered Girgensons on the doorstep for a 2-1 lead.
The Wild again responded quickly.
Gaudreau showed patience inside the right circle before feeding a pinching Spurgeon on the back door, and Spurgeon tied it 2-2 at 12:39.
That spurred the home side, who pushed and pressed in the latter half of the period. However, Luukkonen preserved the tie with several key saves, including a pair of consecutive stops on Kaprizov, who was teed up by Zuccarello for one-timers from the right circle.
Rasmus Dahlin appeared to give the Sabres a 3-2 lead in the dying seconds of the middle frame, but a video review showed the puck crossed the line after time had expired.
–Field Level Media
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