Sabres lose electric game in shootout to Wild

The Buffalo Sabres' five-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday night, as they were defeated by the Minnesota Wild, 3-2, in shootout fashion inside Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The Sabres and Wild traded quick goals to start this game; Buffalo first, before Minnesota countered a little over a minute later.

2:22 in, Jack Quinn grabbed his eighth goal of the 2022-23 campaign to give the blue and gold the 1-0 edge in enemy territory.

The Wild had an immediate response, though, just 1:13 later. With Jacob Bryson in the box for a high-sticking minor penalty, forward Joel Eriksson-Ek scored his 18th goal of the season just 11-seconds into the man advantage to even the score 1-1.

It was still a 1-1 contest as the second period got underway. The teams traded chances for the first half of the frame, before the Zemgus Girgensons-Peyton Krebs-Kyle Okposo line went to work. Krebs got down to business in the right-corner of the Wild defensive end, slipped a pass out to Okposo, who quickly dished it to his left and found Girgensons, who deposited it into an otherwise vacated goal mouth as the puck movement had Minnesota goalie Marc-Andre Fleury way out of position.

Once again, a Sabres lead did not last long. About three-minutes later, Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon snuck deep into a play and snapped a one-timer from the left-faceoff circle in behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to make it 2-2.

Spurgeon's goal would be the last of its kind until the teams got ready for a shootout, as nobody was able to solve netminders Luukkonen or Fleury in the third period or the five-minute overtime period as these two teams played yet another exciting extra frame like they did a month ago in Buffalo.

In the shootout, Minnesota puffed their chests with goals from all three of their shooters -- forwards Mats Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprizov and Frederick Gaudreau all found twine. Only Tage Thompson was able to score against Fleury as Jack Quinn was beaten by the glove hand of Fleury. Buffalo never got to their third shooter, as the Wild shot first and clinched victory in the top of the third round.

The Sabres come home with 7 of 8 points on their four-game road trip, going 3-0-1 in Dallas, St. Louis, Winnipeg and Minnesota.

GAME SUMMARY:

Goal Summary:

First Period:
BUF: 2:22 - Jack Quinn (8) (Unassisted)
MIN: 3:35 - Joel Eriksson-Ek (18) PPG (Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello)

Second Period:
BUF: 9:50 - Zemgus Girgensons (5) (Kyle Okposo, Peyton Krebs)
MIN: 12:39 - Jared Spurgeon (9) (Frederick Gaudreau, Jacob Middleton)

Third Period:
BUF: NONE
MIN: NONE

Overtime:
BUF: NONE
MIN: NONE

Shootout:
Round 1: Mats Zuccarello (MIN) - GOAL ; Tage Thompson - GOAL
Round 2: Kirill Kaprizov (MIN) - GOAL ; Jack Quinn - NO GOAL
Round 3: Frederick Gaudreau (MIN) - GOAL ; Sabres - N/A

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Penalty Summary:

First Period:
BUF: 3:24 - Jacob Bryson (High-sticking - 2 min.); 12:03 - Rasmus Dahlin (Hooking - 2 min.); 16:24 - Tage Thompson (Hooking - 2 min.)
MIN: 10:12 - Connor Dewar (High-sticking - 2 min.)

Second Period:
BUF: 5:31 - Alex Tuch (Tripping - 2 min.)
MIN: NONE

Third Period:
BUF: NONE
MIN: NONE

Overtime:
BUF: NONE
MIN: NONE

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STATS OF THE GAME:

Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Frederick Gaudreau - MIN
2.) Jared Spurgeon - MIN
3.) Marc-Andre Fleury - MIN

What's Next:
The blue and gold are out of game action until Wednesday, Feb. 1 when they come back home to host the Metro Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop inside KeyBank Center is set for 7:30 p.m. EST, and the pregame show with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog starts at 6:30 p.m. EST on the flagship home of the Buffalo Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.