This was a game in which most people thought was the turning point for the Buffalo Sabres in the 2008-2009 season. With just a handful of games remaining and the Sabres sitting six points out of a playoff spot, it was do or die against the Florida Panthers.
The Sabres were originally thought to have solidified the 6th spot in the East until goaltender Ryan Miller went down with an ankle injury, leaving the Buffalo Sabres helpless as they watched teams pass them in the standings.
The Panthers looked to be the more dominant team throughout the first two periods of the game as they ended up taking a comfortable 3-1 lead after the second period.
The game remained much the same for the early part of the third period as the Sabres failed to generate any sort of momentum until 6:14 into the third period where a harmless shot by Henrik Tallinder was deflected by Jason Pominville into the top corner of the net cutting the Panthers lead to one.
After the goal by Pominville, the Sabres looked like a completely different team. They started to apply some heavy pressure on the Florida Panthers and under a minute later they were rewarded again as Clarke Macarthur took a pass from Pominville and blasted a shot five-hole past Vokoun to tie the game at three.
The Panthers game eventually broke down as less than a minute after the goal by Macarthur, Florida was called for a penalty. On the ensuing power play, just 20 seconds in, Tim Connolly ripped another one past Vokoun, giving the Sabres their 3rd goal in a little over two minutes as well as completing their comeback.
Maxim Afinogenov would add an empty-netter in the final seconds of the game to seal the victory and grab the precious two points for Buffalo.
The comeback victory seemed to spark the Buffalo Sabres as they ended up going an impressive 6-2-1 in their final nine games of the regular season. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough to get them into the post season as they were eliminated on the second last day of the regular season thanks to a 2-1 Rangers victory over the Flyers.