The Buffalo Sabres traveled to Detroit for a Saturday night matchup against the Red Wings. A three-goal comeback was capped off with an overtime victory for the Sabres, 5-4. In the win, the Sabres ended their five-game losing streak.
Game Recap
The opening 20 minutes of play was more of a back-and-forth game in the neutral zone from the two teams. Neither side gained any offensive traction until the middle part of the period. The Red Wings opened the scoring just under 10 minutes into the game when Patrick Kane benefited off a turnover by the Sabres. Ben Chiarot got the puck at the top of the circle off a turnover from the Sabres and found Kane net side wide open for a tip in goal to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. The goal marked the 495th of Kane’s career. The lead for the Red Wings was short lived, as the Sabres answered back less than 30 seconds later with Alex Tuch knocking the puck off Moritz Seider’s stick out in front of John Gibson. Gibson was on his stomach after sprawling to make a stop on a scramble play and could not make the save. The first period ended 1-1.
In the second period the Red Wings scored three times led by two goals from Alex DeBrincat. DeBrincat opened the scoring in the period off a turnover by Bowen Byram in front of Colten Ellis and Lucas Raymond made a smooth play to poke the puck to him. The initial shot on Ellis was saved, but DeBrincat followed it up to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead. Dylan Larkin extended the lead off a give-and-go play with Raymond and found himself open in the slot for a quick shot to beat Ellis. DeBrincat wrapped up the scoring in the period for the Red Wings with a power play goal off a pass attempt across the ice net side that deflected off a Sabres defenseman to give the Red Wings a 4-1 lead before Josh Doan got on the scoresheet with a deflection of his own to get the Sabres within two heading into the third period.
The Sabres marched on back in the third period, scoring twice in the first 10 minutes of the period. Tage Thompson led a one-man rush down the ice and made a strong play to the net and made a good backhand to forehand move in tight to beat Gibson to close the gap to 4-3. Ryan McLeod tied things up while shorthanded, causing a turnover in the defensive zone and beating Gibson on a breakaway to even things up at four a side. Neither side could get the game-deciding goal in regulation, as the game headed to overtime.
In overtime, the Sabres capped off the comeback with the game-winning goal coming off the stick of Mattias Samuelsson.
In the win, Ellis made 24 saves on 28 shots, while Gibson stopped 22 of the 27 shots he faced for the Red Wings.
What’s Next
The Sabres look to build off the win when they return to the ice on Monday (Nov. 17), when they return home to take on the Edmonton Oilers. The Red Wings head to New York to take on the Rangers tomorrow (Nov.16).
