ANAHEIM — The Ducks turned their winning streak into a mere points streak as they slipped, 3-2 in overtime, against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night at Honda Center.
The Ducks have now earned at least one point in four straight games and have picked up nine of their past 12 possible points in the standings. The Sabres swept the Southern California teams after blanking the Kings on Wednesday, meaning they prevailed in six of their past eight decisions and climbed above .500 for the first time this season.
Drew Helleson and Isac Lundeström scored for the Ducks. John Gibson made 29 saves in his first loss of the season after he missed several weeks recovering from an appendectomy.
Peyton Krebs and Jason Zucker scored in regulation for Buffalo before Jiri Kulich decided the contest in overtime. Owen Power assisted on all three goals and Alex Tuch added two helpers. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 22 saves.
Ducks coach Greg Cronin had plenty of examples to draw from during his nightly imploration to shoot the puck more. The Ducks didn’t let it rip on a few odd-man rushes, passed from the slot to the flank on multiple occasions and, of course, tested the boards behind the Buffalo net with several errant shot attempts.
“We’ve talked about it. We’ve got to get a witch doctor in here or something to change their mindset. We had plenty of chances. We missed open nets,” said Cronin, otherwise expressing satisfaction with his team’s performance and the entertainment value of the up-tempo game.
Overtime saw plenty of that end-to-end action, and it appeared to be headed for a shootout until Tuch pounced on Olen Zellweger at the defensive blue line, sending the Sabres away on a two-on-none rush. Though Gibson initially made a sprawling save on Power’s one-timer, Tuch distributed the rebound to Kulich, who was beckoned by an open cage to score the OT winner with a minute to play.
“Tuch did a really good job on the blue line, and then we had two guys at the net. Then, he won another battle and I just had an empty net,” Kulich said.
Although the Ducks’ strongest period was the third – they dominated much of the frame in terms of possession, shot volume and scoring-chance quality – it was to no avail on the scoreboard, and an additional session was required to settle the match’s outcome.
“We were pressuring them really hard, we were forcing turnovers to create some zone time, which led to them kind of punting it out and us being able to play on a regroup and get fresh guys out there to forecheck,” defenseman Brian Dumoulin said.
The second period had the spice of an atomic Buffalo wing with two skirmishes and three goals, including two tallies in a 50-second span by the visitors that left the count knotted 2-2 at the second intermission.
Ducks captain Radko Gudas drilled Zucker near the right-wing boards and then manhandled Connor Clifton in a fight to answer for his big hit. Jansen Harkins would make a similarly explosive check on Dylan Cozens and nearly fought Zach Benson before the officials intervened.
Benson received an additional minor penalty and the Ducks extended their lead six seconds after their power play expired. Zellweger earned his fifth point in four games when he whipped the puck high to Ross Johnston, whose point shot was tipped up and over Luukkonen by Lundeström for his third goal of 2024-25.
That edge proved fleeting, as the Sabres halved their deficit with 1:23 left in the period and then erased it with 33 seconds remaining.
Power’s shot from the blue line got behind Gibson, and the puck eluded him as he tried to cover it with his glove. Tuch got to it before Krebs found it and nudged it over the goal line for his third goal of the season.
Zucker’s fifth goal and second in two games drew Buffalo even after Power broke up Sam Colangelo’s pass to Dumoulin into the slot, sending Zucker off on a partial breakaway that he finished with aplomb as Helleson gave chase.
“I saw we had numbers and they were changing. It seemed like Zucker just waited and was almost hoping for a bounce like that, hanging behind us,” said Dumoulin, who described the two quick goals as being less than ideal. “It’s tough when he deflects it in the slot and it goes right to the guy on his stick.”
There was only intermittent crispness during a first period in which Buffalo held most analytical barometers but the Ducks had the nearest misses – Alex Killorn’s drive to the doorstep and a Cutter Cauthier pass for a backdoor tap-in for Brett Leason were both foiled by Luukkonen – and the period’s only goal.
The Ducks got on the board 4:02 into the game thanks to a pair of poised passes from their brightest playmakers. Leo Carlsson restored confidence and relieved congestion in the neutral zone with a decisive pass to the left flank, where Trevor Zegras had just hopped over the boards and into open space. He gained the offensive zone and scanned ahead before slamming on the brakes to hit the trailing Helleson for his second career goal and first since April 11, 2023.
Next up, the Ducks will host the front end of a home-and-home set with the Seattle Kraken on Monday.