Coyotes hand Sabres first home loss in shootout

Arizona's Nick Schmaltz scored the only shootout goal in the Coyotes' 3-2 win over Buffalo on Monday night, handing the Sabres their first home loss this season. Schmaltz beat Buffalo goaltender Carter Hutton with a forehand shot on the glove side for the game-winner in the bottom of the second round of the shootout session.

Jack Eichel missed on the first attempt, and Arizona goalie Darcy Kuemper stuffed Sam Reinhart and Casey Mittelstadt to run his record to 5-3-0. Conor Garland scored his team-leading sixth goal -- all coming in his last nine games -- and added an assist. Carl Soderberg also tallied for the Coyotes, who finished the four-game road trip with a 3-1-0 mark.

Garland left the game in the third period after being hit by a puck on the right ear and suffering a cut but later returned. Kuemper stopped 24 shots of 26 shots and shook off a second-period collision and pile-up that stopped the game briefly.

Jeff Skinner notched a goal and an assist, and Eichel also tallied for the Sabres, who became the final NHL club to lose at home after opening with five straight victories on home ice. Hutton made 42 saves to slip to 6-1-1.

Playing on his 23rd birthday, Eichel wristed in a shot from the left circle just three seconds into the game's first power play for a 1-0 lead at 3:31 of the first period. The Buffalo captain's seventh goal beat Kuemper cleanly on the blocker side.

Marcus Johansson and Skinner lifted the lead to 2-0 with a clever give-and-go play in front of Kuemper. Skinner dished the puck to Johansson, a free agent signing on July 6, and the Swedish center slipped it back to Skinner for a one-timer. He buried his seventh marker at 11:16 as the Sabres grabbed the early momentum.

But Garland scored his goal on a bad-angle shot with 70 seconds left in the period to give the Coyotes some life. He wristed a shot from below the right circle on Hutton, who was hugging the post, but the puck bounced off the goalie and trickled in to make it 2-1.

Arizona tied it in the second period when Soderberg tipped a shot by Garland on the Coyotes' first power play, and the puck went high above Hutton, hit his back and rolled across the line at 16:32 for Soderberg's third goal. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)