*Photo from ABC7 New York*
It'll be tough, but they are still alive in the race. Casey Middlestadt had two assists, Jeff Skinner scored the winning goal, and the Buffalo Sabres defeated the New York Rangers with a 3-2 overtime victory on Friday night in Buffalo.
The Sabres are now 3-0-1 in their last 4 games, gaining some more ground in the wild card chase. They are 5 points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final playoff spot in the eastern conference and have a game in hand. Middlestadt was the only multi point scorer for the Sabres.
JJ Peterka scored the only goal of the first period, giving the Sabres the lead on his 11th goal of the season. Jordan Greenway scored 7:39 into the second period, doubling the lead to 2-0 with Middlestadt and Rasmus Dahlin assisting. Kaapo Kakko then scored his 14th goal of the season to cut into the deficit, making it a 2-1 game.
In the 3rd period, Adam Fox provided the equalizer for the Rangers, tying the game 2-2 on his 12th goal of the season, assisted by Barclay Goodrow and Tyler Motte. That forced overtime, where Middlestadt and Owen Power got the assists on Skinner's game winning goal, coming 1:50 into overtime.
Skinner said of his goal that "Obviously, nice play on the entry and passed it to me. I tried to get it through the seam there. Obviously, they got a little bit of a stick on there. I tried to stick with it. It was kind of rolling, so I just tried to get some good wood on it, and fortunately it sort of found the hole there."
Getting the start for the Sabres was Devon Levi, making his NHL debut after signing an entry level contract with the Sabres on March 17 out of Northeastern University. Levi stopped 31 of the 33 shots he saw from the Rangers, recording a .939 save percentage to get his first win.
Levi said of the experience that "It was a dream come true. I've dreamt of that moment my whole life. To have my family and friends here as well, who have been dreaming for this moment also their whole lives with me, it's just incredible to have that support. The guys played a heck of a job in front of me, letting me see the puck and just letting me do my thing. The game went by fast. I was having fun. I guess when you're having fun, things go fast. It honestly just went by in a blur. It was just, like, amazing."
Opposing Levi on the other end of the ice was longtime NHLer Jaroslav Halak, who played well but got the loss. Halak turned aside 31 out of the 34 shots on goal the Sabres had, which was good for a .912 save percentage. His record now stands at 10-8-4 in 22 starts.
Head coach Gerard Gallant said after the game that "I'm ticked off tonight because we want to win hockey games. That's what we're here for. We clinched what, a week ago, and it seemed like we clinched and then the season's over. It's not the way it's supposed to work. You're supposed to compete every night and try and play hard and do the best you can. I didn't like the way we played tonight at all."
The Sabres get back in action on Saturday, wrapping up a back to back by playing the Philadelphia Flyers. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is expected to start. The Rangers face off against the Washington Capitals on Sunday, with Igor Shesterkin likely to get the start.
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