Marcus Johansson scored 1:30 into overtime to propel the host Buffalo Sabres to a 5-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.
After captain Jack Eichel's shot was blocked in front, defenseman Colin Miller alertly sent a circle-to-circle feed to Johansson for a one-timer past Keith Kinkaid to end the game.
Eichel collected two goals and two assists, and rookie Victor Olofsson and Jeff Skinner also tallied for the Sabres (3-0-1), who improved to 8-for-15 with the man advantage this season, going 2-for-5.
Former Buffalo forward Joel Armia scored two goals and set up Jesperi Kotkaniemi's tally in the third period for the Canadiens (1-0-2), who have ventured past regulation in all three of their games this season.
Montreal defenseman Ben Chiarot scored from the left circle against Carter Hutton (23 saves) to forge a tie at 4-4 with 6:06 remaining in the third period.
Eichel erased Buffalo's 2-1 deficit with a pair of goals in the second period.
The former Hobey Baker Award winner wired a shot from the left circle that banked in off the right post at 4:46. Nearly 10 minutes later, Eichel skated up the middle of the ice and wristed a shot from above the circles that handcuffed Kinkaid (34 saves).
Skinner's backhand shot from in close extended the Sabres' lead to 4-2 just 47 seconds into the third period before Kotkaniemi converted a fortunate bounce off the end boards 57 seconds later.
Eichel's one-touch, circle-to-circle pass found Olofsson, who unleashed a one-timer from the right side that sailed past Kinkaid to open the scoring at 5:04 of the first period.
The tally allowed Olofsson, 24, to become the fourth player to score each of his first six career goals on the power play, joining Winnipeg's Craig Norwich (1979-80), Hartford's Sylvain Turgeon (1983-84) and the New York Islanders' Jeff Norton (1987-88 to 1989-90).
Armia, who was selected by Buffalo with the 16th overall pick of the 2011 NHL Draft, converted a short-handed goal off a feed from Nate Thompson with 5:54 remaining in the first before capping his two-goal performance with 21 seconds left in the opening period. Nick Suzuki picked up an assist for his first career NHL point after setting up Armia's second goal with a feed from behind the goal line.
--Field Level Media
Montreal | Buffalo | |
Joel Armia 3 | Points | Jack Eichel 4 |
Joel Armia 2 | Goals | Jack Eichel 2 |
Joel Armia 1 | Assists | Jack Eichel 2 |
Joel Armia 1 | Power Play Goals | Jack Eichel 1 |
Joel Armia 1 | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Keith Kinkaid .872 | Save Percentage | Carter Hutton .852 |
Keith Kinkaid 34 | Saves | Carter Hutton 23 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Montreal | 27 | 4 | 1-3 | 3-5 | 10 | 33 |
Buffalo | 39 | 5 | 2-5 | 2-3 | 6 | 29 |