After missing most of last season with a blood clot, Jiri Kulich scored the game-winning goal with 6:40 remaining to propel the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-3 victory in their home opener over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.
Tage Thompson tallied a goal and an assist, and Jack Quinn and Rasmus Dahlin also scored for the Sabres, while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 12 saves in the victory.
Ryan Donato, Tyler Bertuzzi and Oliver Moore scored for the Blackhawks.
Anton Frondell and Alex Vlasic finished with two assists apiece, while Spencer Knight stopped 24 of the 28 shots he faced as Chicago opened its season with three straight losses.
Donato started the scoring just under eight minutes into the game as he took a pass from Vlasic and fired a shot past Luukkonen to give the Blackhawks the early lead.
Chicago doubled the lead with 8:36 left in the first period after Frondell slid a cross-crease pass to Bertuzzi, who tapped it into the open net.
Quinn deked past a defender and then found Dahlin for a one-timer opportunity, but Knight kicked out the pad to deny the attempt with just over five minutes remaining in the first.
Quinn got another chance minutes later as he burned past a defending player and unloaded a powerful wrist shot that found the back of the net with 16:24 gone in the period.
Thompson knotted the game with his first goal of the young season as he tipped Louis Crevier’s point shot past Knight with 14:19 left in the second.
Frank Nazar went on a short-handed breakaway with just over three minutes remaining in the middle frame, but Luukkonen got just enough of Nazar’s five-hole shot to force it wide of the net.
Seconds after the penalty expired, Moore stepped out of the box, took a pass from Frondell and snuck it past Luukkonen to give the Blackhawks the 3-2 advantage with 18:18 expired in the period.
Peyton Krebs led the counterattack into the Blackhawks’ end and sent a pass to Dahlin, who quickly wired it past Knight to knot up the contest at three apiece with 13:50 left in the third period.
Quinn looked to build upon his impressive night as he stormed toward the Blackhawks’ net with 11:46 left, but Knight shut the door on the young speedster.
Kulich notched his first goal of the season for the 4-3 edge on assists from Owen Power and Thompson.
