Takeaways: Wild's winning streak ends at 7 with shootout loss to Sabres

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Nov 29, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild got the better of the best team in the NHL then got upset by a bottom-five foe.

After a thrilling shootout victory over the league-leading Colorado Avalanche a day earlier, the Wild weren’t as sharp. They were downed by two bad breaks en route to getting dumped 3-2 in a shootout by the lowly Buffalo Sabres Saturday at Grand Casino Arena to snap their seven-game win streak.

Buffalo’s Tage Thompson, Jack Quinn and Noah Ostlund capitalized in the four-round shootout after the Sabres rallied on two unusual goals; the first went in off traffic in front of Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson and the second hit Mats Zuccarello’s glove as he tried to catch the puck and flew into the net.

Kirill Kaprizov scored for a fifth straight game, burying a Zuccarello pass that counted as Zuccarello’s 700th career point. Matt Boldy also had a goal for the Wild off a strong individual effort: The winger forced a turnover, carting the puck to the net for his 15th goal.

Gustavsson stopped 30 shots, and Colten Ellis finished with 22 saves for Buffalo.

Still, the overtime loss extended the Wild’s point streak to 11 games (9-0-2).

How it happened

In the aftermath of such a competitive clash with Colorado, the Wild taking on a much-less potent Buffalo team felt snoozy, but the Wild were tested.

They capitalized on a pretty passing play 9 minutes, 37 seconds into the first period when Danila Yurov handed off to Zuccarello, who threaded a cross-zone pass to Kaprizov for a one-timer that he drained behind Sabres goalie Ellis.

Kaprizov’s 17 goals are third in the league, and he has seven of those during a seven-game point streak.

With the setup, Zuccarello became only the third undrafted NHLer to debut in the last 30 years and reach 700 points.

Only 3:05 after Kaprizov’s goal, the Sabres retaliated when the rebound of Peyton Krebs’ shot bounced off a sea of bodies and behind Gustavsson; the goal was credited to Beck Malenstyn, who was part of a four-player wall in front of the net that included both Wild defenders.

But the Wild regained control quickly, with Boldy picking the puck off Alex Tuch and wiring the puck by Ellis at 14:05 of the first, and that 2-1 advantage held through the second period.

Turning point

In the third was when Buffalo was most assertive against the Wild, who were bit by an own goal for the second equalizer: Josh Doan’s shot went off the end boards and Zuccarello tried to catch the carom, but instead the puck hit off his glove and tumbled into the Wild net.

The Wild had a chance to regroup on the power play but blanked to go 0 for 3, same as the Sabres, whose momentum sustained them through a goalless overtime to the shootout.

There, Zuccarello was denied before Boldy and Kaprizov scored. In the fourth round, Vladimir Tarasenko went wide in his return to the lineup after missing seven games with a lower-body injury. Only Tuch missed for Buffalo.

Up next

A four-game road trip starts Tuesday at Edmonton.

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