Wild blow late lead, lose 3-2 to Sabres in overtime

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Oct 6, 2026

Published in Hockey

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The Wild fell apart late, and it led to their first loss of the season.

Owen Power capped off the Sabres’ 3-2 comeback in overtime on Tuesday night at KeyBank Center and snapped the Wild’s season-opening two-game win streak at the outset of a three-game road trip.

With 38 seconds left in 3-on-3 overtime, a wide-open Power skated in for the game-winning wrister.

Trailing 2-0 in the third period, Buffalo took advantage of a frazzled shift by the Wild that resulted in a double deflection goal by Noah Ostlund before scorer Tage Thompson went undetected in the offensive zone and wired in a one-timer.

Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt, however, went on to glove down a Thompson shot on the power play for Wallstedt’s best save of the season; he finished with 25 stops, while the Wild tested Sabres goalie Colten Ellis with only 20 shots. The Wild penalty kill is 9 for 9 this season.

The Wild capitalized twice in 1:45 in the second period thanks to Danila Yurov (power play) and Max Shabanov (first with the Wild) in what began as a clunky game for both sides.

Before Yurov’s goal, the Wild blanked on three power plays that included better scoring opportunities for Buffalo. The Wild also got a break that led to Shabanov’s goal, with Michael McCarron not getting whistled for interference on a play that led to Quinn Hughes hauling the puck up ice and Shabanov getting on the end of a botched shot by Hughes.

Nick Foligno, who was playing in front of family, did not play the last two periods due to an upper-body injury.