Rasmus Dahlin scored the first overtime goal of his career Sunday night in the Buffalo Sabres’ 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Dahlin’s marker 48 seconds into the extra period allowed him to finish with a goal and an assist at Rogers Arena.
Casey Mittelstadt and Jeff Skinner also scored while Craig Anderson made 30 saves. With the 302nd victory of his career, Anderson now ranks fifth all-time in wins among American-born goaltenders.
J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat were Vancouver’s goal scorers. Thatcher Demko stopped 26 shots.
Buffalo wraps up their Western Canadian road trip with a 2-1-0 record. They also won in overtime on Friday in a 1-0 victory at Calgary.
The Sabres went 0-for-2 on the power play, and were 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
How it happened
Video: BUF@VAN: Mittelstadt buries game-opening goal
Accepting a pass from Victor Olofsson, Mittelstadt skated in over the line with the puck, fought off two defenders and scored 1:50 into the game for his third of the season.
Vancouver tied things up 2:31 into the second period on J.T. Miiller’s drive to the net that went top shelf and careened directly out of the cage and back into play. Officials let play go on and the Sabres ended up with a scoring chance the other way. However, upon review after the ensuing whistle, it was determined that the puck did in fact cross the goal line and the clock was reset in a tie game.
Video: BUF@VAN: Skinner roofs loose puck home
Skinner put Buffalo back in the lead at the 3:55 mark of the second. Dahlin’s centering feed from behind the net went off the skates of Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers and right to Skinner, who finished the play for his 24t h goal of the season.
Vancouver challenged the play to if Mittelstadt entered the zone offside, but the ruling on the ice was upheld due to inconclusive evidence and Buffalo headed to its second power play of the game.
Later, Horvat wired a one-timer from the slot in on the power play with 6:28 left in the second period to make it 2-2.
Dahlin, who had been especially active in the offensive zone on Sunday, finished a good rush 48 seconds into overtime, cutting into the slot and beating Demko five hole to give Buffalo the extra point.
Roll the highlight film
Here’s the overtime winner:
Video: BUF@VAN: Dahlin scores in OT
Worthy of a mention
Before the game, the Sabres acquired a sixth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft in a trade with the Florida Panthers for defenseman Robert Hagg.
Buffalo activated Will Butcher from injured reserve and he skated on a pair with Colin Miller. Butcher sustained a lower-body injury on January 29 and missed 19 games.
Coming up
The NHL Trade Deadline is Monday at 3 p.m. Buffalo’s first game after that is Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins at KeyBank Center. Tickets are on sale now.
For those unable to attend, the contest will be broadcast nationally on TNT at 7:30 p.m. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.