ST. PAUL, Minn. — In his return to Minnesota since last season’s trade to Buffalo, Wild 2015 second-round pick Jordan Greenway scored the tying goal with 35.8 seconds left off Tage Thompson’s point shot. The goal ruined a perfect storyline where rookie defenseman Declan Chisholm, in his Wild debut, scored a tie-breaking, power-play goal for the first tally of his NHL career with 8:39 left. Then, 1:29 into overtime, Henri Jokiharju scored for a 3-2 Buffalo win to snap the Wild’s four-game winning streak. Joel Eriksson Ek also scored for the Wild. Casey Mittelstadt, the 2017 Minnesota Mr. Hockey and dominant high school performer at Eden Prairie, scored for the Sabres in front of friends and family.
- Greenway’s goal marked the 59th time in Sabres history, and the first since Thompson on April 1, 2021, vs. the Rangers, that a Sabres skater scored to tie a game in the final minute of the third period.
- Twelve of the past 15 meetings between the Wild and Sabres have been one-goal games.
- Eriksson Ek scored his 25th goal in 54 games. His career high is 26 in 77 games.
- Thompson had a power-play goal erased in the first period after John Hynes successfully challenged that Rasmus Dahlin was offside 27 seconds before the goal. The Wild are 5 for 5 this season on coach’s challenges.
- The Wild host Burnsville’s Brock Boeser and the Vancouver Canucks on Monday afternoon before heading to Winnipeg after the game for a Tuesday night date with the Jets.
Joel Eriksson Ek’s 25th goal of the season ties things up!#MNWILD | #NHL pic.twitter.com/7K2Lg2btGf
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) February 18, 2024
Declan Chisholm looks great in debut
In his first NHL game since Dec. 4 and the fifth of his NHL career, defenseman Declan Chisholm didn’t look rusty at all in his Wild debut and scored his first career goal. Claimed off waivers from the Jets during the bye week, Chisholm had to be patient to play his first game. He hadn’t practiced in 12 days because he was on his bye as well, it took longer than usual to get his work visa and the Wild had kept winning games with Dakota Mermis and Jon Merrill in the lineup. But Mermis was scratched for Chisholm against the Sabres, and Chisholm defended well by only giving up one shot off the rush and showed his offensive instincts multiple times. He seems to have a knack for recognizing when he’s needed for puck support and when he could win 50-50 puck battles and he showed no hesitation jumping up in the play.
Minnesota Wild Debut: ✅
First NHL Goal: ✅What a day for Declan Chisholm #mnwild pic.twitter.com/RYYG3z5xar
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) February 18, 2024
Centers swapped on third and fourth lines
One day after John Hynes volunteered to the media that he wasn’t pleased with the Brandon Duhaime-Ryan Hartman-Freddy Gaudreau line in Arizona, Hynes moved Hartman to the Jake Lucchini-Vinni Lettieri line in the second period and placed Connor Dewar between Duhaime — his longtime linemate — and Gaudreau. Gaudreau has scored three goals and seven assists in 42 games this season, is minus-12 and has no goals since Dec. 31, and just that one in his past 24 games.
Wild penalty kill continues to roll
Yeah, yeah, yeah, technically Dahlin set up Thompson for a power-play goal, but in the history of the rest of the world, it never happened thanks to Dahlin putting himself offside by passing to Alex Tuch at the blue line not long before the reversed goal. The Wild’s penalty kill went 3 for 3 and is now a league-leading 32 for 35 (91.4 percent) in 10 games since Jan. 19. The Wild got some great goaltending from Gustavsson on Buffalo’s four shots, and as usual, some gritty play from Brock Faber with clutch blocked shots and Zach Bogosian with some physicality to separate the Sabres from pucks leading to clears.
Three stars
1. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Sabres: Buffalo’s goaltender entered the contest with a .941 save percentage, 1.60 goals-against average and three shutouts in his past 12 starts, and we saw why. He played big, was calm and made a slew of big saves in the first two periods (23 in 40 minutes). He made 31 saves in all.
2. Declan Chisholm, Wild: Fair to say he’ll play Monday vs. the Canucks. Flawless defensively and snapped a 1-1 tie in the third on the power play.
3. Jordan Greenway, Sabres: In his return to St. Paul, he tied the score to continue a strong season for Buffalo.
(Photo: Bailey Hillesheim / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
