Rasmus Asplund scored his second goal of the night at 4:16 of overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 4-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
Zemgus Girgensons and Arttu Ruotsalainen also scored for the Sabres, Rasmus Dahlin collected two assists and Craig Anderson made 34 saves. Buffalo, playing the opener of a four-game West Coast road trip, won its second game in a row.
Troy Terry, Adam Henrique and Simon Benoit scored and Anthony Stolarz stopped 25 shots for Anaheim, which is 0-3-2 in its past five games.
The Ducks put the pressure on in the first period, tossing 17 shots on Anderson -- including 11 through the first half of the period.
However, it was the visitors who struck first. Kyle Okposo's long-range shot from just inside the blue line was saved by Stolarz, but he left a juicy rebound that bounced out to Girgensons at the left circle. Girgensons went far side to put the Sabres ahead 1-0 at 15:03 of the first period.
The Ducks nearly got on the board four minutes into the second period when Isac Lundestrom broke in short-handed, but he was denied by Anderson.
Moments later, the Sabres added to their lead. Asplund connected on the power play with a shot from the right circle to make it 2-0 at 4:24. Ruotsalainen, in a battle in front of the net, deflected a shot by Anders Bjork at 6:01 of the middle period to push the Sabres' lead to 3-0.
The Ducks finally got one past Anderson at 7:46 of the second when Ryan Getzlaf went across his body to feed a streaking Terry in the right circle. The assist put Getzlaf one point shy of Teemu Selanne (988) for most points in Ducks franchise history.
Henrique capitalized after several chances for the Ducks at the net, pushing a loose puck at Anderson's feet to bring the hosts within 3-2 at 16:31 of the second period.
Benoit scored his first NHL goal at 5:59 of the third period, his shot from the top of the right circle trickling by Anderson.
--Field Level Media
Buffalo | Anaheim | |
Rasmus Asplund 2 | Points | Simon Benoit 1 |
Rasmus Asplund 2 | Goals | Simon Benoit 1 |
Rasmus Dahlin 2 | Assists | Cam Fowler 1 |
Rasmus Asplund 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Craig Anderson .919 | Save Percentage | Anthony Stolarz .862 |
Craig Anderson 34 | Saves | Anthony Stolarz 25 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Buffalo | 29 | 4 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 2 | 18 |
Anaheim | 37 | 3 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 4 | 32 |