Girgensons lifts Sabres over Sharks in third

Zemgus Girgensons scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the visiting Buffalo Sabres relied on four different goal scorers to claim a 4-3 seesaw victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night. Girgensons pounced on a loose puck in the slot, after a turnover and a blocked shot, and made the most of the golden chance for his first goal of the season to break a deadlock with 7:45 left in regulation.

Goalie Linus Ullmark stopped 29 shots to backstop the Atlantic Division-leading Sabres in a roller coaster of a game. Buffalo's Marcus Johansson opened the scoring at 12:10 of the opening frame, netting his fourth goal of the season. Henri Jokiharju crossed the blue line and zipped across the ice before giving a short pass to Johansson. Johansson's wrist shot from inside the left circle found the mark between the legs of Sharks goalie Martin Jones.

Timo Meier tied the game with a power-play marker at the 16-minute mark. Meier was left alone near the bottom of the left circle when he received the pass from Joe Thornton and ripped a top-corner wrister over the glove of Ullmark. Casey Mittelstadt put the Sabres ahead 2-1 with 2:53 remaining in the second period with a controversial goal. Mittelstadt was in the slot when he deflected Jokiharju's high point shot. It was originally ruled to be touched with a high stick by the officials, then ruled a goal after a review.

Tomas Hertl's power-play goal 44 seconds into the third period again pulled the Sharks even. Hertl deflected a point shot off a defender and into the net, but the wild scoring spree didn't end there. Jeff Skinner put the Sabres up 3-2 by burying a loose puck at the 2:28 mark of the frame, but Marcus Sorensen's goal with a perfect deflection 22 seconds later evened the count.

Jones made 31 saves for the Sharks, who saw their three-game winning streak snapped.