Sabres Force Game 7 With Overtime Win

All center Daniel Briere wanted was to get his shot past the diving defensemen.

Then he saw the red light, heard the crowd cheer and suddenly: Game 7.

Briere scored a power-play goal 4:22 into overtime, his snap shot from the left circle dribbling in off goalie Cam Ward’s glove, to give the Buffalo Sabres a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. The win tied the Eastern Conference finals at 3-3, with the decisive game at Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday.

“I knew if the shot could just get to Ward and maybe we could jump on the rebound,” Briere said. “I saw the light go on, I saw the fans kind of jumping up, I couldn’t see much from the blue line. It’s a heck of a feeling.”

It was Briere’s second overtime goal this postseason -- he scored in Buffalo’s 3-2 win over Philadelphia in the first round.

J.P. Dumont also scored for Buffalo and rookie Ryan Miller stopped 25 shots.

The series winner advances to play Edmonton in the Stanley Cup finals, which will open at Buffalo or Carolina on Monday.

The Sabres won despite facing elimination for the first time this postseason, and rallied after the Hurricanes appeared to grab the momentum by winning the previous two games.

It didn’t even seem to matter that the Sabres squandered a 1-0 lead when Bret Hedican scored with 3:53 left in regulation for Carolina.

“It’s been our M.O. all year, just a fearless bunch of guys,” Sabres co-captain Chris Drury said.

Now it’s up to the Hurricanes to respond.

“We can’t sulk and hang our heads,” defenseman Glen Wesley said.