The Sabres hung onto a 1-0 lead for a majority of the game until Elias Lindholm took a shot that deflected off of both Rasmus Ristolainen and Matthew Tkachuk before it finally slipped past Carter Hutton in the final minute of regulation.
The #Sabres had more shots on net in 51 seconds with the game tied 1-1, than they did in over 19 minutes of the 3rd period supporting a one-goal lead.
— BuffaloHockeyCentral (@BHCdotcom) October 31, 2018
Calgary continued to carry momentum as they killed off a penalty in overtime and then took advantage of a sloppy defensive play, where Johnny Gaudreau netted the game-winner.
Jack Eichel was defending a 2-on-1 rush, but was unable to block the pass across and it ended up back on Gaudreau’s stick and in the net.
“They outplayed us, we didn’t deserve to win that game. We sat back a little too much. There wasn’t enough compete, enough fire…I thought we were relying on our goalie too much.” – Eichel
Eichel scored the lone Buffalo goal in the first period as he picked the opposite corner on a feed from Jason Pominville after a neutral zone turnover from the Flames.
Jack Eichel opens up the scoring with a beautiful shot! #Sabres leading #Flames 1-0! pic.twitter.com/J4dGKja4O0
— BuffaloHockeyCentral (@BHCdotcom) October 30, 2018
Head coach Phil Housley agreed that the Sabres were outplayed at times, but in a one-goal game, Buffalo failed to finish it off.
“Even though we didn’t play up to our standard, we had a chance to win a hockey game. We had an opportunity with our power play in the OT…and Carter Hutton gave us a chance to win.” – Housley
Hutton was furious after the overtime goal and deserved a much better fate. He made several key stops throughout the night and wound up with the loss, making 36 saves on 38 shots.
Call the cops! Hutton just ROBBED the #Flames blind with his stick! #Sabres pic.twitter.com/aTPPdRK6BR
— BuffaloHockeyCentral (@BHCdotcom) October 31, 2018
At the other end, David Rittich allowed one goal on 29 shots for the victory.
With the point, the Sabres extend their point streak to five games, going 3-0-2 over that span and finish the month of October with a 6-4-2 record, which is a big improvement over that of recent years.