Tage Thompson’s epic game-winning goal
Tage Thompson’s game-winning goal against the Chicago Blackhawks won’t just go down in Buffalo Sabres lore. It might not even only go down in NHL lore. This game-winning goal is arguably one of the wildest plays in the history of modern North American professional sports.
But it wasn’t just Thompson’s epic game-winner that made the Sabres-Blackhawks tilt on March 28th so memorable. It was the fact that, after 22 minutes, they seemingly lapsed into the same old Sabres. Trailing 4-0, no one expected this tilt to end well.
Then Victor Olofsson found twine twice. Kyle Okposo‘s goal at the 14:32 mark in the second put the Sabres within one, and Vinnie Hinostroza’s goal at the 2:39 mark knotted things up. Midway through the third, the Sabres found themselves down by a goal before Alex Tuch scored late in the contest.
The game looked as though it were headed toward yet another overtime period. But with 12 seconds remaining, Thompson shot the puck with so much force his stick broke. The buck banked off the boards and off of Blackhawks goaltender Keven Lankinen’s skate, sealing the deal for the Sabres.
(Statistics provided by NHL.com)