The Buffalo Sabres were facing their toughest challenge of the season as they were playing a Minnesota Wild team that was undefeated entering Tuesday. They had allowed only two goals over the first two games of the season and were playing great hockey.
It was pretty evenly matched in the first period, but the Wild would pull away in the second with two goals, including one on the power play. However, the Sabres refused to give up and with two goals in the third period would be able to force it to overtime.
In overtime, it would be back and forth between the two teams, but late in the extra period, Owen Power would score the game-winning goal to give Buffalo the 3-2 win. This was the Sabres' first overtime win since December 23rd, 2025, when the Sabres beat the Ottawa Senators.
These are a few takeaways from the game on Tuesday night.
Louis Crevier with an incredible effort to finish the first period
After giving up two power-play goals against the Columbus Blue Jackets to begin the season, the Sabres' penalty kill has been much better. After killing both power-play chances for the Chicago Blackhawks, the Sabres would kill three of four power-play chances against the Minnesota Wild.
One of the reasons for that was Louis Crevier, who made a huge impact on the Wild's second power -play chance in the final two minutes of the first period. Over roughly the final 25-30 seconds of that penalty kill, Crevier was able to hold off multiple Wild players, keep the puck against the boards, and not give them a chance to convert.
Louis Crevier finished the game as the only defender with a negative plus/minus, but he played a really good game with two shots, three blocked shots, and a team-leading three hits.
Refs were inconsistent in second period but it didn't stop the Sabres
In the second period, the Minnesota Wild would score twice and both times were due to questionable calls. The first goal was a power-play goal after Peyton Krebs was called for interference at the blue line as they were entering the zone.
It was the fourth power play the Wild had in this game, and it was only a matter of time before the Wild took advantage if the Sabres continued to give them that many chances with the man advantage.
While the Krebs penalty was questionable, what made matters worse was that later in the period, Minnesota was trying to carry the puck out of their zone, and there were two separate instances that the Wild could have been called for interference on very similar-looking plays. They ultimately wouldn't, and the Wild would bring the puck down, and Maxim Shabanov would beat Colten Ellis to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead.
The refs certainly had their hands in both goals, whether calling a penalty or not, but it didn't stop Buffalo, and they continued to push, and they were rewarded with the win.
Buffalo Sabres line changes spark the comeback in the third period
The Buffalo Sabres were down 2-0 going into the third period and for the second straight game, were hoping to overcome a two-goal deficit to come back and win. Lindy Ruff decided he needed to make some changes to their lines and pairs to make that happen.
Among the forwards, the Sabres switched Josh Norris and Peyton Krebs, moving Krebs up to the top line and having Norris play with Jiri Kulich and Konsta Helenius. For the defense, the Sabres shuffled their top pairs by moving Owen Power up with Rasmus Dahlin and putting Mattias Samuelsson with Olen Zellweger.
The Sabres got some immediate positive returns as Dahlin and Power helped set up their first goal of the night a few minutes into the third period. It would be Owen Power who would shoot the puck toward the neck and deflect off Noah Ostlund's leg for the goal.
Then later in the period, it was Peyton Krebs making an impact as he was able to control a loose puck and turned quickly to find Tage Thompson in the slot. It is a part of the ice that he rarely misses, and he didn't miss here, as he would tie it up at two.
The Buffalo Sabres will be off for one day before they are back on the ice in KeyBank Center to play the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
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