Red Wings-Sabres wrap-up: Wings pull victory from the jaws of defeat

The Red Wings’ 3-2 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night was exactly the kind of game that last year’s Red Wings team would have lost.

The Red Wings gave up the game’s first goal; they were able to generate a pair of goals in 1:19, but never did pull away from Buffalo, instead, surrendering the game-tying goal with only 1:37 remaining in regulation, and the Wings headed to overtime…

Where this happened:

The 2021-2022 season Red Wings stand at 10-9-and-3 going into a busy week (back-to-back games in Boston on Tuesday, at home vs. Seattle on Wednesday, and home vs. Long Island [maybe???] a week from Saturday) in no small part because they’ve won a couple of close games that almost certainly would have been disappointingly close losses a year ago.

Now there are still a lot of ways in which the Red Wings can improve–winning a game like this without needing to resort to overtime is a big way in which they could take significant steps forward–but earning a “by any means necessary” win on Saturday counts toward the Red Wings’ long-term growth as well as their short-term success.

Our friends from Buffalo had been playing their 2nd game in 2 nights and their 3rd in 5 overall, so the Sabres did feel “somewhat fortunate to earn a point” (as they say), but they wanted more than one, as they told the Buffalo News’s Mike Harrington:

“Oh, I was jacked up on the bench [when Jeff Skinner scored] there for sure,” [Dustin] Tokarski said on a postgame video call. “It shows some character. ‘Skins’ has been playing some great hockey for us. It’s fun to see. We’re a team that I don’t think is ever out of a fight and it’s good to see us get to overtime for a big point.”
“When you’re in front there at 6-on-5, I just try to stay loose really just in case there’s a rebound or deflection,” said Skinner, who notched his sixth goal. “Fortunately, I was able to get my stick on it and it went in.”
Buffalo’s lone five-game week of the campaign started with a barnburner Sunday in New York, the crushing 5-4 defeat to the Rangers on Ryan Lindgren’s goal with 0.4 seconds left. It ended with their second overtime loss of the season against the Red Wings, who also beat Buffalo in extra time Nov. 6 in KeyBank Center. In between was a 7-4 loss to Columbus and a 5-1 defeat to Boston where Tokarski and Aaron Dell took turns getting pulled from the net. The Sabres only found solace in Friday night’s win over Montreal, which fell to 1-9-1 on the road.
“It’s almost a game where you know you’re fighting energy a little bit,” coach Don Granato said of Saturday’s loss. “You play a team that’s fresh, they know it. It’s like they smell blood in the water. You’ve got to manage it a little bit and find the time to push.”

Harrington found that the Sabres wanted to challenge the Red Wings’ 2-1 goal, but were unable to do so due to poor video quality on the bench:

The Sabres pondered a challenge for goaltender interference on the Suter goal, as Giovani Smith was entangled with Rasmus Dahlin at the edge of the crease and made things tough for Tokarski. But apparently because of the risk of a delay of game penalty for a failed challenge, the Sabres decided against it.
After the game, however, Granato admitted the penalty was one factor. Another was technical issues and flickering video on the bench that was difficult to see to make a decision in time for the referees to allow Buffalo to challenge. During the second intermission, the coach was apparently kicking himself for not taking the plunge.
“I told the team I apologize. That’s a mistake. I should have made that call,” Granato said. “I didn’t have good enough video on the bench. We had some trouble. You guys had much better video than we had, I will say that. I’m sure of that because I saw something different later.”

I’m not sure whether the goal would have been overturned–in all honesty, Smith was half in the crease on his own and half because he was crowded into Tokarski’s workspace, and the league tends to rule on the side of the player being pushed into the crease these days–but one never knows.

Anyway, the Associated Press’s recap saw it as a battle between two goaltenders in Dustin Tokarski, who stopped 38 shots while playing his second game in 2 nights, versus Alex Nedeljkovic, who stopped 26 of 28 for Detroit:

Sabres coach Don Granato said: ”Toker did a great job of keeping us in the game – he was the reason we were able to get a point out of here.”
Skinner added: ”Tok was great and we had to get some big penalty kills. But we didn’t get it done in overtime. It was good to get a point.”
The Sabres pulled Tokarski with 1:52 remaining in the third period and Skinner scored his sixth goal of the season 15 seconds later, tying the game at 2-all. Skinner, stationed to the left Nedeljkovic, tipped a slap shot from center Cody Eakin into the net.
”When you are in front on a 6-on-5, you are just staying loose and hoping for a loose puck or a deflection,” Skinner said. ”Luckily, I was able to get my stick on that shot and get it over the goalie.”
Nedeljkovic blanked the Sabres for a stretch of 33 minutes. He was coming off a 35-save effort against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night in which he allowed two goals.
Nedeljkovic, from Parma, Ohio, is technically a rookie and eligible for the Calder Trophy. He entered the game with a 2.24 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. He shares the position with veteran Thomas Greiss (2.66, .914), but has made three consecutive starts.
”He’s earned the right to get the starts,” Blashill said. ”But we’re going to need both guys. He’s just in a groove.”
Larkin added on Nedeljkovic: ”He’s made some incredible saves. It’s been a great confidence boost to know he’s going to be there every night.”

Tokarski also weighed in on the overtime winner–as did Lucas Raymond, as NHL.com’s Dave Hogg noted:

Raymond took a drop pass from Dylan Larkin and skated into the Sabres zone before shooting past Rasmus Dahlin and five-hole on Dustin Tokarski.
“When I looked up, I could see a lot more of [Dahlin] than I could of the net,” Raymond said. “I figured if I could get a shot past his stick, I could use him as a screen.”
Said Tokarski, “I should have had that one; I saw it all the way. I think he took something off it and it just handcuffed me. If I make that save, we have a chance at getting both points.”
Alex Nedeljkovic made 26 saves for the Red Wings (10-9-3), who have won two straight at home following an 0-3-1 road trip.
“I thought this was a game we deserved to win,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “We could have been up 3-1 or 4-1, given the opportunities we had, and I didn’t think we gave away much defensively. That’s a good night for us.”
The Red Wings are 7-2-2 at home this season.
“I think it is really important for us to play well here,” Larkin said. “Our fans have been showing up and the atmosphere has been great after a long year without them.”

Larkin was also proud of his linemate, as he told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

“Confidence and skill,” linemate Dylan Larkin said of the rookie Raymond. “He goes one-on-three and he got a shot and he took it and it went in. Our line was all over it tonight and we didn’t get one, then he got one when it counted. It was great to see.”
Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner scored at 18:23 of the third period with Tokarski pulled, Skinner’s sixth goal, tipping Cody Eakin’s shot from the wing to tie the score at 2.
But the Wings rebounded, showing the resiliency that’s been a bit of a calling card for them this season.
“We got back to work and got on the attack and we challenged them,” Larkin said of the Wings’ mindset after Buffalo tied the score. “In overtime we won the faceoff and I felt a calmness. Razor (Raymond) skated up the ice and shot it and the game was over.”

Again, coach Blashill felt that the win was earned on merit…

“We deserved to win, it was a game we could have been up by a couple of goals as the game went along,” Blashill said. “We could have been up 3-1 or 4-1, we had the opportunities, and we didn’t give up a whole bunch defensively, which is a good thing for us. It was good to find a way to get the two points because it was a game we deserved to win.”
It was the Wings’ second straight victory, after they went winless in four games, after winning four of five.
“I liked how we stuck with it, stuck with it the whole game, and things happen in a 60-minute hockey game and we responded well every time,” Larkin said. “It’s been a focus, we have to win games in our division, those games are huge. It’s going to be tight all year.”

Coach Blashill and Larkin both told the Free Press’s Helene St. James that the Wings were buoyed by their crowd…

“Part of is the juice that the crowd gives us,” Blashill said. “I think they’ve been awesome. I know that the roads weren’t great and so it’s hard maybe for everybody to get down here, but I thought the crowd was great. The energy in this building has been great. I think that’s a huge reason why we’re 7-2-2.”
Larkin said the “atmosphere has been great. We just get excited to be here. It was a long year without fans and we missed them a ton. To have them back, some of the loudest moments I have heard since it opened have happened this year. We have to keep going to make sure there’s louder moments.”

And Larkin offered this to Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff:

Even though it was the second Saturday in a row that the Wings squandered a one-goal third-period lead, this game didn’t feel at all like last Saturday’s 2-1 OT loss at Arizona. Detroit didn’t sit back. The Red Wings came at the Sabres but just couldn’t find that next goal.
“We attacked,” Larkin said. “We didn’t sit back. I thought our puck management was good, which was something that we’ve been really focusing on late in games.
“We kept our foot on the gas. We had some extended O-zone time, we challenged their defense.”
Ultimately, Jeff SKinner tied it for Buffalo with 1:37 left in regulation and Sabres goalie Tokarski on the bench for an extra attacker.
“Things happen in a 60-minute hockey game and it’s all how you respond,” Larkin said. “We responded well every time.”

Overall, Larkin felt that the Wings did a good job winning “by any means necessary,” as he told DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills…

“It’s not going to be pretty every time. We know that, but we did it,” Larkin said. “When things don’t go well, we get back to home ice, we get back to playing our game.”

And we’ll conclude with this, from the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

The Detroit Red Wings captain wore a Michigan hat for his post-game press conference Saturday, in a nod to the allegiance he holds to the Wolverines from playing there in 2014-15. Though Larkin turned pro the year after the Wings drafted him in 2014, he has remained a huge Michigan football fan, and tried to fit in Saturday’s marquee game against Big Ten rival Ohio State.
One problem: It was a game day. That meant a morning skate at 10:30 a.m. at Little Caesars Arena, to prepare for the evening game.
At least Michigan’s kickoff was at noon.
“I had to shut it down,” Larkin said. “I watched up until early third quarter and then woke up with two minutes left, and I think that was the quickest I’ve ever woken up from a nap and flipped the TV on. I was pumped. That was cool. It was hard to sleep today, I’ll tell you that.”

Multimedia:

Highlights: Sportsnet posted an 8:19 highlight clip: