The evening before American Thanksgiving, the Minnesota Wild and Buffalo Sabres faced off in Buffalo for their first season meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 27. The Sabres had Tage Thompson back in the lineup after he missed the past five games with a lower-body injury. The Wild were still without Mats Zuccarello and Marat Khusnutdinov, and they added Jakub Lauko and Jonas Brodin back to the injury list after their game against the Winnipeg Jets to start the week.
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Both sides were energetic in the game, and the goaltenders were ready to make big saves. Filip Gustavsson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen were in between the pipes for their respective teams. Despite some strong chances for the Sabres, the Wild got the upper hand and held it throughout the game for the 1-0 win. This moved the Wild to 14-4-4 and the Sabres to 11-10-1.
Game Recap
It took a bit to get both teams going to start the game, but the Wild capitalized on a Sabres turnover that led to a 4-on-1 for the Wild’s top line, leading to the game’s first goal. Brock Faber broke up a Sabres’ pass in the Wild’s defensive zone, broke it out, and passed it to Matt Boldy as they entered the Sabres’ zone. Boldy sent it across the zone to Kirill Kaprizov, who sent it to Joel Eriksson Ek, who returned it back to Kaprizov, and he took the shot that beat Luukkonen for the 1-0 lead.
The Wild held the lead throughout the rest of the first, even on their penalty kills. The second period tilted more in the Wild’s favor as they started to tally more shots, and Gustavsson held strong to give his team the lead heading into the third period. The third showed what a goaltender battle this game was.
The Wild controlled the first part of the period but couldn’t get past Luukkonen and were held to one goal. However, in the final few minutes, the Sabres took control 6-on-5 as they pulled Luukkonen for the extra attacker. This time, the Wild’s Gustavsson stood strong and held out the final minutes to earn his second shutout of the season.
The Wild will head back home for their third back-to-back of the season and first with both games at home on Friday, Nov. 29, and Saturday, Nov. 30. They’ll play host to the Chicago Blackhawks and Connor Bedard on Friday afternoon, and then the Nashville Predators on Saturday evening. The Sabres will remain at home for their back-to-back to host the Vancouver Canucks also on Friday afternoon and then head on the road to face the New York Islanders Saturday evening.
