Wild cough up tying goal late, lose 3-2 in overtime to Sabres

In the thick of a playoff race that’s looking like it will require a photo finish, the Wild banking five out of a possible six points in a week is a job well done. Period.

“We played some really good hockey and [a] style of game that gives us the best chance to win,” coach John Hynes said.

But going 6-for-6 would have been better, and it was a real possibility.

The Wild lost the lead in the last minute of regulation before the Sabres finished off their 3-2 comeback in overtime on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center to deny the Wild a season-high fifth consecutive victory. This is the third time the Wild have maxed out at four in a row.

“It’s more frustrating just how we lost the game today,” goaltender Filip Gustavsson said, “not just that we lost a point.”

Buffalo forward Jordan Greenway made an impactful return to St. Paul, helping create the tying goal with 37 seconds left in the third period in his first game at Xcel Energy Center since the Wild traded him last season.

After a Tage Thompson lob at the Wild net, Greenway whacked at the rebound before Dylan Cozens did the same to send the puck rolling behind Gustavsson.

Then just 1:29 into 3-on-3 action, Henri Jokiharju completed the Sabres’ rally with a one-timer from the slot for his first goal since the last time these two teams played on Nov. 10; Buffalo also won that game 3-2.

“Guys around the net, and we get a goal,” Greenway said of the equalizer, which initially belonged to him before Cozens received credit. “You do the right things, and success usually comes with it.”

Gustavsson, who had 25 stops, felt the whistle should have gone before the Sabres scored the tying goal.

“I had it for five seconds, and the ref probably just didn’t see I had the puck there,” he said.

Neither team capitalized until Eden Prairie’s Casey Mittelstadt broke a 0-0 stalemate 39 seconds into the third period, wiring in a shot off the rush.

(Buffalo had a first-period power-play goal overturned for being offside; the Wild are 5-for-5 in coach challenges.)

Just 3:23 later, Kirill Kaprizov hauled a turnover into the offensive zone and sent the puck to the front of the net where Joel Eriksson Ek chipped it past goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (30 saves).

“You never know what he’s going to do,” Eriksson Ek said of Kaprizov. “He’s one of those players that you gotta be ready all the time. Fantastic pass.”

The goal was Eriksson Ek’s team-leading 25th; he and Kaprizov have six points apiece during their respective four-game point streaks.

BOXSCORE: Buffalo 3, Wild 2 (OT)

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Later in the third, the Wild received a four-minute power play because Jake Middleton was cut by a high stick, and Declan Chisholm flung in his first NHL goal at 11:21 in his Wild debut after getting claimed off waivers from Winnipeg last month.

The defenseman had been practicing but was a spectator for the Wild’s previous four wins. This was Chisholm’s fifth career game and first since Dec. 4. The power play finished 1-for-4, while the Sabres went 0-for-3.

“After I scored that goal, I just wanted the game to end right there so we did get the win,” said Chisholm, who had his fiancée, Kate, in attendance.

But the clock kept ticking and after pulling Luukkonen for an extra attacker, Buffalo added even more time to the scoreboard.

What makes this loss even more of a missed opportunity is that the Wild would have climbed within three points of a playoff spot with a win because St. Louis also lost.

Instead, they are four back of the second wild-card berth in the Western Conference with a difficult schedule on deck.

After playing host to Vancouver for a Monday matinée, the Wild go back on the road for a three-game trip to Winnipeg, Edmonton and Seattle.

“If we can continue the consistency and the style of game that we played for the majority of the week,” Hynes said, “that’s going to give us the best chance to continue to win and be a hard team to play against.”