St. Paul, Minn. (WGR 550) - 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 a shootout at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Sabres and Wild traded quick goals to start this game, with Buffalo scoring first before Minnesota countered.
At the 2:22 mark of the opening period, Jack Quinn grabbed his eighth goal of his rookie season to give the blue and gold a 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.
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 the puck into the vacated goal mouth with Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury way out of position.
Once again, the 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 behind Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to make it a 2-2 game.
Spurgeon's goal would be the last of its kind until the teams got ready for a shootout, as nobody was able to solve Luukkonen or Fleury in the third period or overtime.
In the shootout, Minnesota puffed their chests with goals from all three of their shooters - forwards Mats Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprizov and Frederick Gaudreau. Only Tage Thompson was able to score against Fleury, while Jack Quinn was beaten by the glove hand of Fleury.
The Sabres will return home from their four-game road trip with seven out of a possible eight points, going 3-0-1 against the Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets and Wild.
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GAME RECAP
Scoring 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:
MIN: Mats Zuccarello - GOAL
BUF: Tage Thompson - GOAL
MIN: Kirill Kaprizov - GOAL
BUF: Jack Quinn - Save
MIN: Frederick Gaudreau - GOAL
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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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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Frederick Gaudreau - MIN
2.) Jared Spurgeon - MIN
3.) Marc-Andre Fleury - MIN
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What's next:
The Sabres return to game action on Wednesday when they host the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes at KeyBank Center. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. EST with pregame coverage on WGR with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog starting at 6:30 p.m. EST.
A reminder that Wednesday's game will be telecast on TNT, so the only place to catch Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray is on WGR.
