The Buffalo Sabres used a patchwork lineup Thursday night and it was no match for the Minnesota Wild in a 6-1 preseason loss at the XCel Energy Center in St. Paul.
The Wild outshot Buffalo, 42-11, in dropping the Sabres to 4-2 in exhibition play. Only a 36-save night from Buffalo goaltender Chad Johnson kept the margin from being worse.
Jason Zucker, Tyler Graovac and Zach Parise scored in the first period as the Wild took a 3-0 lead and never looked back. Nino Niederreiter made it 4-0 in the second period before Tim Schaller scored Buffalo’s only goal, an unassisted tally at 17:15 of the second period.