In Buffalo, the visiting Calgary Flames hung a 4-3 loss on the Sabres on Thursday night.
Jonathan Huberdeau struck for the game’s first goal to stake the Flames to a 1-0 lead with 49 seconds gone in the first.
“It was a good road game again for us,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “I thought it was similar to the way we played in Washington (3-2 shootout loss), which is a nice sign for us. But we were able to keep it up and found a way to win. And I think after they scored to even it up, scoring quickly after that, the way we did it was a big thing for our team, for sure.”
The Sabres replied with a goal from Erik Johnson at 6:06 of the first for a 1-1 tie.
“It’s great to score, it’s great to contribute any way on the team I can,” Johnson said. “Credit to Kyle [Okposo] and ‘Dahls’ for making those plays. Any time I can chip one in, it’s a bonus. That’s not really what I’m known for anymore, but fun to contribute. Obviously I’d trade that for a win, but you know, it’s nice to contribute and hopefully, I’ll pot a few more and get some more wins most importantly.”
Dan Vladar made 24 saves in the Calgary win.
Midway through the first, Walker Duehr added a marker to push the Flames back in front, 2-1.
“We created our own mess tonight,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “We were sloppy. The difference in the game for me was Calgary did a nice job playing a very direct game. They got their bounces, they made their breaks. I felt we didn’t play direct enough. … Five-on-5, we wanted to play a little bit pretty at times and didn’t play direct enough. It’s tough sledding as a result.”
Tage Thompson scored four minutes later for a 2-2 tie.
The trend continued with a goal from Blake Coleman giving the Flames a 3-2 advantage early in the third.
“I thought we were resilient,” Coleman said. “I think every time we grabbed some momentum, they seemed to grab it back and (we) just stuck with it. I thought we were the better team 5-on-5. A few too many penalties, but good kills and big saves from ‘Vladdy’ kept us there, and a couple of timely goals. I think we’ve been building the right way, and I think we deserved to finally get a road win.”
Less than two minutes later, Buffalo tied it again on a marker from JJ Peterka for a 3-3 count.
With less than five minutes left on the game clock, Adam Ruzicka hit for the game-winner.
“(Dillon) Dube made a great play on the wall, hard play obviously, and ‘Naz’ found me, and I was fortunate it went in,” Ruzicka said.
Devon Levi made 33 saves in the loss.
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