BUFFALO – The other guys, Sabres center Jiri Kulich noted, did the heavy lifting to create his first goal in 343 days, the late winner in Saturday’s thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind victory.
Seconds before he gave the Sabres their first lead in the home opener, Kulich misfired after center Tage Thompson sent him in alone on Chicago Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight during a four-on-four.
“I was pretty pissed after the first one,” said Kulich, who was playing his second game after a blood clot forced him to miss the final 91 contests last season, including the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
No problem. Thompson quickly retrieved the puck behind the net and fed defenseman Owen Power in the right circle.
When Power grabbed the pass, Kulich skated to the bottom of the left circle undetected and tapped his stick to call for the puck. As Power adroitly dished it to him, sneaking it by two opponents, the Czech said he closed his eyes and “somehow put it in” 13:20 into the third period.
“What a pass by OP,” he said. “… I just had an easy job.”
Jiri Kulich gives the Sabres their first lead of the night, 4-3.
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For 11 months, Kulich, who had the clot removed in March, had been imagining the next goal he would score, the 18th of his NHL career and first since Oct. 25, 2025.
As he finally lived it, as the capacity crowd of 19,070 fans roared in KeyBank Center, he said he could “feel the crowd again.”
“That was probably the main thing I was dreaming about the whole year not playing,” he said of scoring. “So after that one, it was a lot of emotions. So, yeah, that one is going to be special.”
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who watched Kulich, 22, emerge as a rookie late in 2024-25, also saw the toll being out of the lineup took on the youngster.
“I’m so happy for him,” Ruff said. “I mean, he was so frustrated late last year and watching us in the playoffs and not being able to be part of it. He was getting his career underway that last, like, 20 games, the year before.
“I mean, huge setback. He spent a lot of time in the summer trying to get his body and just his hockey back in the right place.”
Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said “it’s hard to put into words how much (Kulich has) been grinding.”
“Super mentally strong, he just comes back and plays his game,” the defenseman said. “It’s fun to watch. I’m sure he’s going to have a hell of a career after this.”
Kulich’s goal helped the Sabres, fresh off Thursday’s 6-3 road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, avoid another 0-2-0 start.
Like last season, when they won 50 games and registered 109 points, they found to plow through adversity and triumph.
With the new 2025-26 Atlantic Division champions banner hanging from the rafters, they broke down defensively and fell behind 2-0 11:24 into the contest.
“That’s not good enough,” Ruff said. “I mean, those two goals, we let them get inside, we didn’t stop inside, and we basically just handed them their three goals tonight.
“I thought second period and third period, as the game went on, we got better.”
Goals from winger Jack Quinn and Thompson tied it by the 5:41 mark of the second period before Oliver Moore scored at 18:18 to restore Chicago’s lead.
The Blackhawks tallied their three goals on the first nine shots they pumped on Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Dahlin joined the rush and tied the game 6:10 into the third period.
“After the first 10, I thought we really got to our game and kind of wore them down,” Thompson said. “I think that’s something with our group, we know if we play the way we’re supposed to, we’ll get our offensive looks. But it’s more about not giving up so many chances.”
Notes: Ruff utilized rookie forward Konsta Helenius, a minus-3 Saturday, in the final minute with the Blackhawks pushing for the tying goal and their net empty. “I really thought he was skating well,” Ruff said. “I thought he competed hard on pucks.” Ruff said the goals against weren’t Helenius’ fault. … With defenseman Olen Zellweger back from a concussion, the Sabres scratched veteran Matt Grzelcyk. … The Sabres outshot the Blackhawks a whopping 28-15. … The Blackhawks fell to 0-3-0. … Kulich also won a critical late faceoff after moving up from the fourth line to a scoring trio alongside Helenius and Peyton Krebs.
