Olofsson scores in OT as Sabres rally past Blackhawks 4-3
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Victor Olofsson scored twice, including in overtime, and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 on Saturday night.
Olofsson got his sixth of the season 36 seconds into overtime. With Buffalo on a power play after Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was called for holding late in the third period, Olofsson converted a slap shot from the right circle off a pass from Rasmus Dahlin.
'œHe's always ready, he's an opportunist, he's always ready,'ť Sabres coach Don Granato said. 'œWe made a quick change in overtime to put him out and he had, you could argue, two goals in the game (already), but he felt the back of the net twice before that, one was disallowed, obviously, but so we knew he had a little swagger tonight as well and he didn't let us down. What a shot.'ť
Buffalo had dropped two in a row. The Sabres trailed 3-1 after two periods, but Tage Thompson scored twice in the third. Craig Anderson made 23 saves.
Olofsson opened the scoring in the first with a power-play slap shot from the slot. But the Blackhawks responded with three straight goals.
Olofsson had a goal disallowed for being offside following a coach's challenge, but he scored moments after the clock was reset after a review.
'œWe kind of took over in the second and we just gave up two quick goals,'ť Olofsson said. 'œWe can't stop playing defense just because we're rolling over them. I think we kind of have to learn from that, but we fought back and got the win.'ť
Jason Dickinson, Sam Lafferty and Taylor Raddysh scored for Chicago. Arvid Soderblom made 41 saves in his season debut.
'œHe played great, he really deserved better tonight,'ť Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. 'œI thought he looked really calm in there, made some really big saves on chances that were primaries. That's something we want to clean up as a team, especially in front of a young goaltender, but he showed a lot of poise out there. It was nice to see.'ť
Thompson, who led the Sabres with 38 goals last season, entered with one goal, but he crashed the Chicago net twice while erasing its two-goal lead.
'œI think it was just a matter of time,'ť Thompson said. 'œIf you're getting chances, I think that's all you can really ask for. If you're not getting chances, that's when you've kind of got to be looking yourself in the mirror to see what's going on. If you're getting chances, I think they're bound to go in.'ť
Thompson's first goal came off a rebound of a shot by Kyle Okposo at 11:55 of the third. He tied it when he tapped in a pass from Jeff Skinner to the left of Soderblom with 3:13 left.
'œHe's been shooting it, he's been hitting knobs and hitting posts and he's still been a pretty dominant player,'ť Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said. 'œIt was just a matter of time, and it was great to see his goals come from six inches out.'ť
SABRES D CHANGES
Buffalo defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin was sidelined by a lower-body injury. Kale Clague, who was recalled Sunday, replaced Lyubushkin and made his Sabres debut. Clague was signed as a free agent in July.
KANE RISING
Patrick Kane played his 1,115th regular-season game with the Blackhawks, passing Brent Seabrook for third place on the franchise list. Duncan Keith is next with 1,192.
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: Host Minnesota on Sunday in the opener of a three-game homestand.
Sabres: Host Detroit on Monday in the third game of a four-game homestand.
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