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Sabres lose two-goal lead late, fall to Predators in overtime 4-3

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Teams in desperation mode can be the most dangerous ones to deal with. When both sides are equally desperate you can have things go bananas. Buffalo had a 3-1 lead thanks to goals from Nathan Gerbe, Tyler Ennis, and Tim Connolly and appeared ready to hand Nashville and goalie Anders Lindback a tough loss. Little did the Sabres know that March was Blake Geoffrion’s month.

Geoffrion’s tally in the first period up to that point was his only goal. By the time the clock wound down in the third period, he’d have a hat trick and would force overtime. Geoffrion would score with 2:27 remaining and 1:23 left in the third period to tie things up and that’s where Martin Erat would end the game just 27 seconds into the extra period and give the Predators a huge 4-3 win.

For Geoffrion, it’s his first NHL hat trick and helps him join the company of his great-grandfather Howie Morenz and his grandfather Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion as family members with hat tricks in the NHL. It also gives Geoffrion six goals and one assist in his first 11 NHL games. Say, he might have a career in this hockey thing.

Anders Lindback was stellar for Nashville in goal making 35 stops and keeping things under control late allowing Geoffrion to get the game tied. Ryan Miller made just 22 saves in the loss.

Nashville now jumps to sixth in the West and even with the Kings in points with 86. The one point earned by Buffalo gives them a three point lead on Carolina for the eighth spot in the East. If there’s a positive spin out of this for the Sabres, it’s that they at least got a loser point out of the deal to keep Carolina immediately off their heels for a night. That said, losing this way with such a brutal third period collapse stings badly and gives the team a lot to think about for the future.