In Buffalo, the Sabres took an early 2-0 lead over the visiting Arizona Coyotes, but had no ability to hold the lead.
The Coyotes rallied back and defeated the Sabres, 3-2, after the skills competition.
Conor Garland andCarl Soderberg scored to get the Coyotes even and force extra time which settled nothing.
“We had a trip like this at the end of [last] year that kind of cost us the playoff spot, so all these trips are going to be important,” Garland said. “They’re hard trips for any team going out east or teams coming out west, so to go 3-1, that’s a big-time road trip.”
Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves through extra time and settled down after the Sabres’ opening offense. He stopped all three shooters in the skills competition.
“Going down two early, especially at the end of a trip, it takes a lot of character to put your heels down and start moving forward,” Kuemper said. “Just it started shift by shift and the forecheck got going, and slowly we took over the game.”
Jeff Skinner made it 2-0 midway through the first period but that was the end of the scoring.
“We get a lead, but obviously you don’t want to give away a 2-0 lead at home,” Eichel said. “We’ve got to find a way to get that next goal.”
Jack Eichel also scored for Buffalo.
“I think there were stretches we were in our end and we gave up too much,” Skinner said. “There were stretches we were in our end and we kind of held them to the outside and weathered the storm. [Carter Hutton] made some big saves for us, and it just seemed every time we went in the O zone we were kind of one and done. We didn’t really get any sustained pressure down there. It probably kind of hurt us overall in the game.”
Nick Schmaltz was credited with scoring the deciding goal in the shootout.
“I think we’ve just got a good mix of depth. Everyone’s playing on the same page, everyone’s playing the right way, and we’re going into games with the mindset that we’re going to win,” Kuemper said. “When you’re thinking like that, it doesn’t really matter how the game goes, we stick with it and we believe that we’re in every game and we’re going to win every game, and I think that’s why we’re having so much success.”
[WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Sabres highlights]
Carter Hutton made 42 saves in the loss which dropped the Sabres to 9-2-2.
“Down the stretch, they were the better team,” Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger said. “We were actually pleased to get that to overtime. We raised our game again, pushed hard for the win and had the opportunity there. I would say the shot total was a result of our energy today, just not there where we need it for our ‘A’ game, and our game asks for a lot of movement, a lot of speed, a lot of skating, and I feel we hit a bit of a wall today.”
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