Wild 3, Sabres 2 (SO)
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Right winger Jason Pominville scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
The former Sabres captain beat Buffalo goalie Robin Lehner with a wrist shot to the glove side on the game-winning attempt. Wild center Charlie Coyle and Sabres center Jack Eichel scored earlier in the shootout to force the extra round.
Center Mikko Koivu and right winger David Jones scored in regulation for Minnesota (31-25-10). Goalie Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves.
Eichel and left winger Johan Larsson scored in regulation for Buffalo (26-31-9). Goalie Robin Lehner made 28 saves.
Jones opened the scoring 2:16 into the game on a fortunate bounce near the Buffalo crease. After Jones entered the Buffalo zone with speed, a seemingly harmless shot was saved by Lehner but ricocheted off Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and into the net.
It was Jones' first goal as a member of the Wild after being acquired from Calgary at the trade deadline.
The Sabres came storming back in the second with two power-play goals following a four-minute high-sticking penalty to Minnesota right winger Nino Niederreiter.
Larsson got the Sabres on the board at 14:45 on a tap-in. Defenseman Rasmus Ristoalinen's initial shot was stopped by Dubnyk and Larsson put home the rebound from the Wild crease.
Eichel made it 2-1 1:23 later following a tic-tac-toe passing sequence.
Center Cal O'Reilly fed right winger Sam Reinhart inside the left circle, and Reinhart threaded a cross-ice pass to Eichel in the right circle. Eichel had an open net with Dubnyk out of position for his 19th goal of the year.
The Wild came back with a power-play goal of their own with 5:41 remaining in regulation. Koivu's one-timer from the right circle made it 2-2 following a great pass by defenseman Matt Dumba.
NOTES: D Cody Franson (neck) was scratched for the Sabres. Franson suffered a setback last week after the team believed he was close to returning. He has missed the last seven games. ... LW Chris Porter, RW Justin Fontaine and D Nate Prosser were scratched for the Wild. ... This was the second of two meetings between the Wild and Sabres this season. ... Wild RW Jason Pominville (2003-13) and LW Thomas Vanek (2005-13) began their careers with the Sabres. Pominville was Buffalo's captain from 2011-13 and Vanek finished his time with the Sabres ranked 10th in franchise history in points (497) and fifth in goals (254).