A rocking and sold-out crowd inside KeyBank Center as the Buffalo Sabres welcomed the Chicago Blackhawks to town on Saturday night for their home opener.
It was Buffalo's first game at home since their Game 7 playoff overtime exit last season versus Montreal. Sabres fans carried that same energy from last year's Atlantic Division championship season into opening night.
In the first period, Chicago quieted the noise a bit as they lit the lamp first; Ryan Donato took a beautiful pass out in front from Alex Vlasic, firing it past Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Buffalo had their fair share of chances to tie things up shortly after the opening Chicago goal. The best chance came from Buffalo forward Konsta Helenius, who was stopped on a breakaway by Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight.
Chicago would build on their lead in the first as Tuevo Teravainen set up a tic-tac-toe goal, passing to Anton Frondell, then hitting Tyler Bertuzzi back door for a tap-in, making it 2-0.
Buffalo was outshooting the Blackhawks 10-5 before finally breaking through and scoring their first of the night; Jack Quinn scored his second of the season, wristing one past Knight to make it 2-1 late in the first period.
Buffalo concluded the first period outshooting the Blackhawks 14-5.
In the second period, Buffalo tied things up; Sabres assistant captain Tage Thompson won the draw back to the blue line, and former Blackhawk and now Sabres defenseman Louis Crevier tossed a light one on net that was tipped in by Thompson.
With under two minutes to go in the second period, Chicago regained the lead. Oliver Moore capitalized on a 2-on-1 beating UPL.
Buffalo outshot Chicago 21-9 after 60 minutes. In the third period, Buffalo tied it up again; captain Rasmus Dahlin took a quick snapshot off a Peyton Krebs pass and sniped it past Knight.
On a 4-on-4, with 6:40 to go and plenty of open ice, Jiri Kulich gave Buffalo their first lead of the night, finishing a clutch pass from Owen Power.
Buffalo hung on and defeated Chicago 4-3, outshooting the Blackhawks 28-15.
After the win, head coach Lindy Ruff spoke on what it meant to have Kulich score the winning goal after he missed 70 games last season with a blood clot.
"I'm so happy for him. I mean, he was so frustrated late last year, watching us in the playoffs and not being able to be part of it, and he was, he was getting his career underway in the last like 20 games the year before. I mean, huge setback. He spent a lot of time this summer trying to get his body and just his hockey back in the right place. So, you know, I think he embraces the fact that he's playing right now," said Ruff.
Kulich did not have many words in the locker room after the win, but he was able to describe the experience as a dream.
"It was a lot of emotions. It was great to be back, you know, to score a goal and just feel it again, feel the crowd again, and yeah, it was kind of like a dream," he said.
Dahlin shared his experience of seeing Kulich face adversity and get his moment on Saturday night.
"It's unbelievable. It's hard to put into words like how much he's been grinding and how much he's really been around and wanting this. So I'm just super happy for him, just being able to play hockey again, and he does it so well. You know, super mentally strong. He just comes back and plays the game."Dahlin added, "I'm sure he's gonna have a hell of a career after this."
Sabres fans seem to have picked up where they left off; Saturday night's game was sold out, and it didn't look or sound like an October hockey game that Buffalo has seen in a very long time.
"For the fans to show up the way they did- incredible- and it was great to answer the call late and get the group that was here tonight get them a win," said Ruff.
Buffalo just started five straight at home; next up, they host Minnesota on Tuesday at 7 pm.
