For a night, the Buffalo Sabres\u2019 luck turned.<\/p>\n
One night after they had 42 shots on net and still got shut out 5-0 by the New Jersey Devils, the Sabres went to Minnesota and earned a come-from-behind shootout win against the Wild with two of their greasiest goals of the season.<\/p>\n
Fittingly, the Sabres\u2019 fourth line got the scoring started for them in this game. A few minutes after the Wild took a 1-0 lead, Peyton Krebs threw a puck on net and both Beck Malenstyn and Josh Dunne were hitting the crease hard. Filip Gustavsson made the initial save, but the puck bounced off Malenstyn and ended up in the back of the net.<\/p>\n
Then in the third period, the Sabres were trailing 2-1 when Josh Doan scored one of the luckiest goals you\u2019ll see all season. As he carried the puck into the zone, a Wild defenseman was tripped up and fell, giving Doan a clear shot. Gustavsson made the save, and the puck bounced off the glass and back towards the net. Mats Zuccarello tried to play the puck with his hand and ended up accidentally swatting it into the back of the net. That helped the Sabres tie the score and eventually force overtime.<\/p>\n
Josh Doan ties the game at 2-2 after the puck bounced back out front and Zuccarello tries to catch it but put it in his own net instead #LetsGoBuffalo<\/a> #MNWild<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/IwuKPdYLDS<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) November 30, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s our focal point right now is we have to find a way to score more dirty goals,\u201d Doan told reporters after the game. \u201cI think we scored two of the dirtier ones that you can find. That\u2019s something you\u2019re going to see from us moving forward. We have a good team off the rush, but we have to find a way to create secondary scoring off of bounces and loose pucks and building walls off the back post. If we do that, we can continue to score a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t all about the ugly goals, though. The game ended in a shootout, and it was rookie Noah Ostlund who finished it with what coach Lindy Ruff described as a \u201csick\u201d move from his backhand to his forehand for a goal. It was Ostlund\u2019s first career shootout attempt. Ruff had gotten strong reports from the coaches in Rochester about what Ostlund could do in that setting, and it was a bonus that the Wild didn\u2019t know his tendencies.<\/p>\n The Wild had won seven straight coming into this game, including Friday night against the league-best Colorado Avalanche<\/a>. They were also 12-0-2 when leading after two periods. For the Sabres to earn a comeback win on the road against that team was significant. It was just Buffalo\u2019s second road win of the season and came on the heels of a demoralizing loss to the Devils on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the Sabres are still just 5-5 in their last 10 games, sitting in last place in the Eastern Conference and five points away from the second wild-card spot. The only way this team is going to gain any ground in the standings is if this result becomes more repeatable.<\/p>\n Here are a few other thoughts from the loss:<\/p>\n Turnovers an issue again<\/p>\n The Sabres have been hurting themselves with careless mistakes a lot during this recent rough patch, and that continued early in this game. On the Wild\u2019s first goal, Tyson Kozak lofted a weak clearing attempt off the glass in the defensive zone. It was intercepted, starting the play that turned into Kirill Kaprizov scoring on a cross-ice one-timer.<\/p>\n On Minnesota\u2019s second goal, Alex Tuch mishandled a breakout pass, then skated back toward the Sabres\u2019 net and lost the puck, which led to Matt Boldy scoring. That put the Wild up 2-1 just moments after Malenstyn\u2019s goal had tied the score.<\/p>\n The Sabres otherwise played a solid defensive game, allowing just three high-danger chances at five-on-five.<\/p>\n Colten Ellis returns<\/p>\n It was Colten Ellis\u2019 turn to mind the net in the Sabres\u2019 ongoing three-goalie rotation. He hadn\u2019t played since the Sabres\u2019 6-2 loss to the Flames on Nov. 19, but turned in a decent performance in that game. Ellis didn\u2019t have much of a chance on Kaprizov\u2019s early goal, and while he could have made a save on Boldy\u2019s, Tuch\u2019s turnover was the glaring mistake on the play.<\/p>\n Ellis also wasn\u2019t particularly sharp in the shootout, though he did stop 22 of 24 shots in regulation, including a few key saves late in the game. This wasn\u2019t Ellis\u2019 best performance of the season, but he played well enough to keep the net for the Sabres\u2019 game against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Neither Alex Lyon nor Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen were sharp in their most recent outings, and Ruff has preferred to stick with a goalie coming off a win.<\/p>\n Injury updates<\/p>\n Josh Norris did not play in this game, but the Sabres haven\u2019t ruled him out for Monday\u2019s game. Jordan Greenway was out of the lineup Saturday as part of his load management plan as he works his way back to full strength after hernia surgery. Josh Dunne replaced him and was part of a fourth line that helped carry the Sabres for stretches. That line has worked better lately with Dunne in the lineup.<\/p>\n