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SALT LAKE CITY — Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson secured the win on Thursday.
Unfortunately for him, it was for the wrong team.
The scoresheet might say Kevin Stenlund scored the game-clinching fourth goal for the Utah Hockey Club in its 5-2 win over the Sabres at the Delta Center. But in reality, it was Thompson.
The Sabres forward sent a pass back to the blue line that bounced off the boards and into the empty net on the other end with just over a minute left in the game.
And to add insult to injury, it was during a delayed Utah penalty. Yeah, Buffalo went from having a late power play to tie the game to knowing it was all but over.
"That was lucky," Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev said.
That's putting it lightly.
Thompson said he hadn't realized there had been a delayed call, and that's why he zipped the puck up top instead of attacking and forcing a Utah touch. That mistake cost Buffalo a chance at an equalizer in the final minute of regulation.
"It just went through everybody, so bad play by me, and even worse result, so ... " Thompson said.
A worse result for the Sabres, maybe; Utah, though, will take the much-needed win. At this point of the season, Utah simply needs points — even if they come via some luck.
"That was great, that was perfect," Utah head coach André Tourigny said with some quip in his voice. "Their power play was clicking tonight. So instead of that, now you lead by 2. … So that was a good time — clutch play."
THE SABRES DREW A PENALTY BUT INSTEAD OF GIVING UTAH THE PUCK THEY SCORED AN OWN GOAL IN THE EMPTY NET 😭 pic.twitter.com/2odiB38cbO
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 21, 2025
To be sure, Utah did have actual clutch plays of its own on Thursday, too.
With 5:47 remaining, Dylan Guenther rebounded a shot into an open net to break a tie and give Utah a 3-2 lead. The late tally was Guenther's ninth game-winning goal this season, tying him for second-most in the NHL.
Guenther had set up Michael Carcone in the slot, and then a rebound after the shot was stopped by Buffalo goalie James Reimer.
"He's 21 but he's one of the better players in the league," Sergachev said of Guenther. "He's got an elite shot, definitely top 10 elite and he uses it well."
And he often did at the exact right time.
"Maybe a bit of a coincidence, too," he said of the game-winners. "Just getting lucky on some of them."
Guenther's young co-star Logan Cooley scored in his move back to the first-line center, giving Utah an early 1-0 lead in the first period, and Sergachev added two goals (one of which was the final empty-net tally) to give him 13 on the season.
It almost felt like a collective sigh of relief came from the Delta Center after Guenther's goal, though. Buffalo had scored early in the third period to tie the game, and it looked like Utah was on its way to yet another overtime period.
And it wasn't like the team had been playing great. Case in point: The Utah power play.
The Club had four chances at the man advantage; it went 0-for-4, committing two penalties and allowing a short-handed goal — not exactly a banner night for a unit that has had very high moments this season. It was the second straight game Utah's unit had been scored on.
"Yeah, that sucks," Sergachev said.
That about summed it up. So what went wrong on the power play?
"I think we were thinking too much," Sergachev said. "We're not playing the game. We're thinking it and we've struggled a little bit like last four games … but I think we're just in our head."
He added the team needs to simplify some things, and just get pucks on net. Tourigny mentioned he wants to see the units win more battles all over the ice.
"We need to raise our intensity on the power play," Tourigny said. "Win more battles, support quicker, win loose pucks — those kinds of things, and we don't do it right now. We're waiting for an opportunity. We need to put our hard hat on and working boots and get in there."
Especially because Utah probably can't count on too many lucky bounces moving forward.
