BUFFALO — Going into Saturday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Buffalo Sabres had lost six games in a row — three of which were in overtime or a shootout. So the hometown fans may have been especially nervous when Sid Crosby tied the game at 1 in the third period.
William Carrier had scored for the Sabres at 8:16 in the first period. Then Crosby’s goal at 5:46 of the third made it a 1-1 tie going into overtime.
No goals were scored in the 5-minute overtime period, setting the stage for Cal O’Reilly — who was called up from Rochester Saturday morning — to be the hero.
The Sabres continue their four-game homestand on Monday night when they welcome the Calgary Flames into KeyBank Center. The Flames earned an overtime win in the first matchup between the two teams in Calgary on Oct. 18.
NOTES:
- Tonight’s Sabres win broke a nine-game losing streak against Pittsburgh. Buffalo’s last win against the Penguins took place on April 23, 2013.
- The Sabres improved to 4-0-2 when leading after the first period and 5-1-4 when scoring first this season.
- With 46 saves, Anders Nilsson has improved to 2-1-2 with a .951 save percentage and a 1.74 goals-against average on the season.
- As of the end of the game, Nilsson’s .951 save percentage ranked him third in the NHL among goaltenders with at least 120 minutes played, behind only Andrei Vasilevskiy (.953) and Devan Dubnyk (.952).
- The 46 saves were two shy of his career-high mark (48, 10/13/15 at Dallas).
- In his last three games, Nilsson is 2-0-1 with a .976 save percentage and a 0.97 goals-against average.
- William Carrier’s goal was the first goal and point of his NHL career.
- Taylor Fedun, who assisted on Carrier’s goal, now has an assist in each of his last three NHL games, dating back to Jan. 15, 2016.
- With Saturday night’s shootout-winner, Cal O’Reilly has improved to 6-for-13 (46.2%) in his NHL career, including three game-deciding goals.
from Sabres Digital Press Box via IFTTT