Sabres capitalize on goalie gaffe, beat Flames 1-0 in OT

Updated Mar. 19, 2022 12:34 a.m. ET

Associated Press

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Tage Thompson scored in overtime and Dustin Tokarski made 24 saves to lead the Buffalo Sabres over the Calgary Flames 1-0 on Friday night.

Buffalo (21-33-8) has split the first two games of its Western Canada road trip, which wraps up Sunday night in Vancouver.

It was a rare lost point on home ice for Calgary (37-16-8), which is 15-1-2 in its last 18 games at the Saddledome.

Tokarski got his second career shutout and first since 2013-14 with the Montreal Canadiens. He improved to 6-9-4.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 33 shots and fell to 29-11-7.

After playing a brilliant game, Markstrom made a critical mistake on the deciding goal. He charged out of the net to clear a puck that had been shot in off the sideboards, but in attempting to send it to safety, he whiffed on it and Thompson was right there to corral it and fire it into the empty net.

The 24 shots were a season low for the Pacific Division-leading Flames.

The save of the night and a contender for save of the season was a highlight-reel effort by Tokarski, who dove across the crease to take away what appeared to be a sure goal for Calle Jarnkrok after he was set up with an empty net by a perfect pass from Andrew Mangiapane.

Jarnkrok made his Flames debut after the 30-year-old Swede was acquired Wednesday from the Seattle Kraken for three draft picks. He centered a line with Mangiapane and Tyler Toffoli, acquired Feb. 14.

The two best chances of the third period went to Calgary.

Johnny Gaudreau spotted Chris Tanev sneaking in from the point and hit him with a diagonal pass, but Tokarski acrobatically got across to rob the defenseman.

With four minutes left in the third, Matthew Tkachuk sprung Gaudreau on a breakaway, but he shot over the net.

NOTES: Buffalo made one lineup change, inserting Robert Hagg for Colin Miller on defense. ... Jarnkrok, Markstrom and Elias Lindholm are all from Gavle, Sweden, a town with a population of 75,000. ... After scoring his first goal of the season Wednesday, Flames RW Brett Ritchie was a scratch.

UP NEXT

Sabres: At the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.

Flames: At Vancouver on Sunday night.

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