Buffalo Sabres: What made each overtime win special in March?

Concluding the Road Trip

The biggest test for the Sabres heading into the mini-road trip was to put recent wins behind them and to focus on the current contest. They failed miserably against the Edmonton Oilers in a blowout loss. However, the win against Calgary gave them their first shutout win since 2019, and it was easy to wonder whether the win would distract them against Vancouver.

For a second, it looked like the case, with the Canucks outshooting the Sabres 12 to five in the third period, but goaltender Craig Anderson held his own. The Sabres also looked like the same old Sabres for most of the contest, blowing a narrow lead, lacking physicality, losing face-offs, and once again, failing to convert power plays.

Fortunately, they also played a clean game, committing zero giveaways while taking advantage of puck miscues from the Canucks. It was also a game where Casey Mittelstadt came into his own, logging two points and playing like the first-round pick the Sabres thought they were getting.

This was the kind of game the Sabres would have lost in February. It’s probably the kind of game they’d have lost over much of the previous decade. But if there was any game that showed growth, it was this one. The Canucks outplayed the Sabres, yet the blue and gold still found a way to win thanks to Rasmus Dahlin’s game-winning goal off of assists from Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson.