The Buffalo Sabres added a lowlight to their rough season during their 5-2 loss to the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday in the Delta Center.
The Sabres, who are last in the Eastern Conference, were down 3-2 with just over one minute remaining in game time.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff pulled goaltender James Reimer from the net in exchange for an extra skater, giving the Sabres a six-on-five advantage to try and tie the game.
However, Sabres forward Tage Thompson tried to send a pass back to defenseman Rasmsus Dahlin. The pass went awry as Thompson missed Dahlin and the puck banked off the boards and went into the back of the Sabres’ own net, with no goalie to stop it.
The own goal put the Sabres down 4-2. The Sabres then gave up another empty-net goal to Utah forward Mikhail Sergachev to put the final score at 5-2.
The Sabres were down 2-1 entering the third period, but Ryan McLeod took advantage of a Utah turnover and buried a short-handed goal with a nifty backhand to tie it up at 2-2 at the beginning of the third period.
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However, Utah forward Dylan Guenther scored his team-leading 25th goal of the year when he buried a rebound with 5:47 left to play to break the tie and give Utah a lead they would not relinquish.
While the Sabres are playing more for draft position at this point than for playoff position, the Utah Hockey Club is on the fringe of the Wild Card race in the Western Conference with 73 points.
They are four points behind the St. Louis Blues (77 points) for the second spot, but are also vying for that final spot with the Vancouver Canucks (76 points) and Calgary Flames (75 points).
Utah will look to build on their win over the Sabres when they play the Detroit Red Wings on Monday at 9 p.m. ET. The Sabres will look to bounce back from the loss when they play the Minnesota Wild at 2:00 p.m. ET on Saturday.
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