In Buffalo, Tage Thompson scored 6:15 into the third period to snap a 3-3 tie with the Carolina Hurricanes, and send the Sabres to a 4-3 win on Saturday afternoon.
Devon Levi made 31 saves in the Sabres win.
“It shows our character right now,” Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin said. “We’re not out of it. We’ve just got to keep battling. It’s next game, next game. So how hard we battled to the end, it just shows that we really want it and we’ve got to do everything we can.”
Carolina dropped to 50-20-9, and failed to pad their lead in the Metro Division.
“[The Sabres] have a couple of unique players and we took a breather on them, and they put it in the net,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Unfortunately, we’re in a situation right now where we’re having a tough time putting it in the back of the net. Not that we didn’t have enough opportunities.”
Casey Mittelstadt hit for a double for the Sabres, his first goal gave them a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Carolina replied with two goals in the first to give the Canes a 2-1 lead on goals frm Seth Jarvis and Jesper Fast .
“We’re going to need everyone scoring, especially with [Andrei Svechnikov] out as well,” Carolina’s Jordan Staal said. “We’re going to need myself and everyone through the lineup putting the puck in the back of the net and taking some heat off our top guys. It’s a group that’s got to battle through this adversity a bit right now. We’ve got keep our heads held high and keep pushing forward and find ways to start grinding out some wins.”
Dahlin tied the game, 2-2, early in the middle frame.
“All I can do is do my best and compete and that’s what I did today,” Dahlin said. “I really wanted to win this game. I think that’s the simple answer.”
Sebastien Aho scored to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead in the second.
Mittelstadt tied the game game late in the second, 3-3, setting Thompson for the heroics in the third.
“I think the most impressive thing I saw him do was give me an empty-netter, so I’ll take those,” Mittelstadt said of Dahlin. “I was just kind of watching him skate around, then all of a sudden, I was just wide open and he still had the puck somehow. (I’ll) take those and, I mean, he was pretty special tonight. That was fun to watch.”
Antti Raanta made 26 saves in the Canes loss.
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