Red Wings-Sabres quick take: Unsustainable trends yield a 5-3 ‘learning experience’ loss

The 4-and-3 Detroit Red Wings headed to Buffalo for a one-game road trip against the 3-4-and-1 Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon, smack dab in the middle of a slate of 3 games to be played over the course of 4 days.

Detroit hoped to build upon a 3-game winning streak; Buffalo aimed to win a 3rd straight game after defeating the Blackhawks and Stars.

On Saturday afternoon, the Red Wings surrendered 2-0 and 3-1 leads to the Buffalo Sabres, but rallied to tie the game 3-3…And the Wings ultimately lost to the plucky Sabres, who won their 3rd straight 5-3.

Tage Thompson was excellent for the Sabres, with 2 goals and an assist; Ukko-Pekka Lukkonen stopped 22 of 25 shots against, and for Detroit, Raymond (1G, 1A), Rasmussen (1G), DeBrincat (1G) and Seider (2A) all had big games, while Alex Lyon stopped 34 of 38 shots.

This was the kind of “learning experience” game where the Red Wings both a) gave up too many shots and b) gave up a crucial early PPG that put them behind the eight-ball early, while going 0-for-2 on their own power play.

There were bounces that went against the Wings for sure, and some calls that went against them, but you earn your luck, and the big, physical Sabres out-competed Detroit today.

These teams will meet again next Saturday, and the Wings will have to be sharper, more physical, and better.

Detroit has been able to play “Big and Heavy” like Buffalo at times, but they’ve got to be able to defend “Big and Heavy” against, too, and they need to generate more zone time in the offensive end of the ice here.

The Red Wings and Sabres hit the ice at 12:30 PM for warm-ups:

It appeared that J.T. Compher was back in the lineup, and that Olli Maatta would sit. Patrick Kane was wearing the “A” in Buffalo.

The Sabres dressed the following lineup…

It was back to somewhat normal for the Red Wings with Compher back in the lineup…

And FanDuel Sports Network posted a full interview with Marco Kasper from the pregame show:

The Red Wings posted their official lineup at 12:59 PM…

So here’s the scoresheet’s list of starters and scratches. The starters are in bold:

In the 1st period, the Red Wings tied up the opening faceoff, but Jokiharju and Dahlin chipped and chased, Seider and Edvinsson gave the puck to Tarasenko, Detroit could not clear early but Kane and Tarasenko chipped and changed some 28 seconds into the game;

Tuch fed Peterka for a shot that went high and wide of Lyon;

DeBrincat, Larkin and Raymond worked a couple of shots in on Luukkonen via DeBrincat, Larkin fired one wide and Lyon set up as the Wings changed and Petry and Chiarot played catch at 1:20;

Fischer, Copp, Rasmussen and company watched Lyon make a good stop and then Seider and Edvinsson cleared the zone for the checking line, where Fischer and Rasmussen were held up via interference and the Sabres cleared the zone;

2:10 into the game the Wings had rolled all four lines, and Buffalo was called offside at 2:16.

Buffalo looked more organized in the offensive zone early, and Marco Kasper got called for hooking at 1:38.

Buffalo won the opening faceoff and Thompson ripped a shot off a Wing and wide;

Compher, Fischer, Seider and Edvinsson cleared the zone;

The Sabres’ first unit worked the puck into the Wings’ zone, but Compher poked the puck away;

Thompson and Dahlin generated a scoring chance that didn’t generate a shot on goal;

Thompson was stopped by Lyon 1:02 in;

Thompson continued to menace the right wing, and Petry and Chiarot helped push the puck to the blueline, but not out, so Thompson shot a puck at the net and Jason Zucker chipped the rebound over Lyon to make it 1-0 Buffalo at 4:04.

Christian Fischer’s stick poked the puck over Lyon and into the net at 4:04. Buffalo led 1-0. Jason Zucker from Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin.

Buffalo continued to menace the Detroit net as they amassed a 6-1 shot lead over a Red Wings team that couldn’t handle the Sabres’ physicality down low in their own zone, and that was frustrating to watch.

Detroit just struggled mightily to clear the zone and Zucker gloved the puck into the goal, affording Detroit a very lucky not 2-0 deficit.

Detroit went the other way, DeBrincat and Raymond jammed pucks in on Luukkonen, and Buffalo raced back into Detroit’s zone and set up shop.

Some 6:30 into the 1st, the shots were 8-2 Buffalo, and by 6:43, they were 9-2.

When play resumed after the TV timeout, Detroit still struggled to generate any sort of sustained attack or zone time, chipping but not chasing very well, and when Christian Fischer chipped the puck past his own defenseman, Justin Holl couldn’t catch up with Peyton Krebs, who raced up the right wing and fired a shot into Lyon.

Detroit just looked…off…early. Emphasis on early in the day, as well as early in the game.

Kasper, Berggren and Veleno weren’t getting regular ice time, but when they were on the ice, they looked sharp and determined, and that was a lone good sign as the shots were 11-2 at 9:15.

Again, Detroit just couldn’t sustain offensive pressure or any real zone time in the Sabres’ zone.

As the period progressed, the Wings’ sticks and skates at least got into passing and shooting lanes more regularly, and Kasper, Veleno and Berggren generated a very good scoring chance just before the second TV timeout at 11:10.

When play resumed, Larkin, Raymond and DeBrincat worked together and Raymond fired a sneaky shot just wide of Luukkonen;

The Kasper line began to earn more of a regular shift as the period progressed, and the Wings needed their energy…But the Wings changed defenders at an odd time, Kasper’s line got backed in, and Tage Thompson worked a passing play to make it 2-0 Buffalo at 12:00 from J.J. Peterka and Rasmus Dahlin.

Off a bad change by Petry and Chiarot, Thompson made it 2-0 from Peterka and Dahlin at 12:00.

The Sabres continued to try to pound the Red Wings heavily as they gained confidence and momentum;

Detroit tried very hard to chip and chase, and it wasn’t working well.

Even Mickey Redmond addressed the fact that Buffalo was generating quality scoring chances some 13:52 into the 1st, saying that the Red Wings needed to “shut down” the Sabres’ quality chances.

The shots were 15-4 Buffalo at 14:05; shot attempts were 23-8 Buffalo.

When play resumed Raymond NEARLY fed Larkin for a pass-and-goal, but Larkin was being checked;

Thankfully, Alex DeBrincat scored the 2-1 goal off a Raymond turnover to DeBrincat, a lateral to Seider and then a pass back to DeBrincat, who beat Luukkonen.

DeBrincat made it 2-1 from Seider and Raymond at 14:43.

Sadly, Jonatan Berggren went off for hooking at 15:11, and Detroit headed to the PK again.

Fischer and Compher worked the first PK unit, and they took a short shift before Larkin and Raymond came out, and Edvinsson and Seider helped;

Chiarot and Petry rejoined the fray and the Sabres deked and dangled well, but Raymond made a good block, Petry made a good clear, Dahlin fanned on a shot and Detroit was able to clear, Compher blocked a back-door pass in the low slot, and the PK was killed.

The Sabres were sure generating a lot of scoring chances, but Larkin flipped a shot close by Luukkonen at the other side of the ice, and JUSTIN HOLL PUT THE PUCK OFF THE CROSSBAR off a defenseman’s stick AND DOWN but it STAYED OUT of the NET behind Luukkonen.

Detroit was gapping up better as the period progressed, affording the Sabres less skating space, but Buffalo still had the upper hand in Detroit’s zone, and the Wings wound down the first period looking for a spark.

Berggren worked with Tarasenko and Kasper as the lines were tweaked, and they looked capable;

Off the following draw, DeBrincat got a chance off and Raymond and Larkin caused some chaos, Seider and Edvinsson sent a tipped shot in on Luukkonen, and the period ended with Buffalo out-shooting Detroit 16-9 (the scoresheet changed after I Tweeted out the stats breakdown).

In the 2nd period, Detroit started the Copp line and lost the opening faceoff, but Lyon tapped the puck to Edvinsson, Detroit pushed the puck out to center ice, and Seider fed Fischer, whose lateral pass went over Copp’s stick.

Rasmussen still tried to cycle, but Detroit changed at 40 seconds of the 2nd instead, or at least tried to do so, and a Seider icing call brought Larkin back into the Wings’ zone at 1:04 with Rasmussen and Fischer still on the ice.

Larkin lost the deep zone faceoff, but Detroit blocked the Sabres’ shot and Raymond and DeBrincat came out to help Larkin.

Lyon made a stop on Tuch but the puck came in and out of his glove, and the puck just rolled over the top of the net;

Detroit afforded Tage Thompson a fantastic scoring chance before Detroit iced it at 2:01;

Lyon made another nice stop and accidentally knocked the net off at 2:07, and, thankfully, he was not called for a penalty.

Instead, Larkin found Raymond and Raymond hit the goalpost behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and the goal light went on, but the puck did not enter the net.

Lyon then made a HUGE couple of stops on Malenstyn in front of the Wings’ goal, the Sabres continued to press, and sadly, Tage Thompson made it 3-1 at 3:20 of the 3rd. Thompson got lost in the Red Wings’ coverage, and Thompson just slid a pass into the net through Lyon.

Thompson made it 3-1 at 3:20 of the 2nd from Dahlin and Tuch.

But Michael Rasmussen got some help as Moritz Seider chipped a keep-in toward the net, Rasmussen went glove-to-stick and chipped the puck through Luukkonen to make it 3-2 at 3:51.

Rasmussen made it 3-2 at 3:51 from Seider and Edvinsson.

As play continued, the Red Wings were still affording Buffalo a crap-ton of zone time in the Red Wings’ end, and that was not ideal, but Detroit was at least more solid in terms of getting sticks and bodies in shooting and passing lanes.

The shots were 7-4 Buffalo in the 2nd at the first TV timeout some 6:18 in, but the quality of Sabres shots was going down.

Owen Power chipped a shot toward the goal from distance that Lyon stopped some 6:30 into the 2nd, and the Red Wings got very lucky at 6:46 as they chipped the puck out of play but were not called on a deflection;

Then Michael Rasmussen got a mini-breakaway and was stifled by Luukkonen;

Larkin fed Gustafsson off a faceoff for a wide shot, and then Raymond was stood up by a Sabres D-man sans stick;

The Larkin line had a fine shift and Larkin himself got a great chance off on Luukkonen set up by DeBrincat as the Wings finally generated some sustained zone time in the Sabres’ end of the ice.

Then Kasper worked with Berggren and Kane for a bit, Veleno took a spot on the Compher line…

Regrettably, J.T. Compher was called for cross-checking at 9:38, and Detroit went back to the PK.

Detroit really ground it out down low and Edvinsson made a fine shot block on the first PK shift;

Edvinsson then blocked a Tage Thompson shot, and Larkin raced up the right wing to chip and change;

Kasper came out on the PK and flicked a puck deep into the Sabres’ zone, working with Raymond;

Raymond charged up with Petry and RAYMOND SCORED A SLICK LITTLE GOAL TO MAKE IT 3-3 SHORTHANDED at 11:02.

Raymond scored from, well, himself at 11:02 of the 2nd. 3-3 tie.

Detroit then earned another shorthanded chance as Veleno and Copp generated a quick little 2-on-1 charging up vs. Owen Power;

Ultimately, Detroit killed the penalty and Raymond ripped a shot off the faceoff that was blocked away, but Raymond was definitely “feeling it.”

As Ken Daniels noted, the Wings were shaking up their lines here and there, but DeBrincat, Larkin and Raymond remained together for the most part, and they looked superb together.

12:56 into the 2nd, Detroit only trailed in shots 11-8 in the 2nd, and when the Sabres tried to “skate” the Wings in their own zone, they were meeting more and more close Red Wings taking away time and space.

Off a turnover, Berggren and Petry ripped hard shots near Luukkonen;

Berggren was squeezed out as he worked with Kasper and Tarasenko;

Petry blocked a Dylan Cozens shot with 5:25 left;

Off an icing against, Larkin won a deep zone faceoff, Seider set up Raymond for a good clear-in, and when the Sabres came back 3-on-2, Peterka was stopped, Seider cleared it, and Detroit ended up generating a long shot on Luukkonen;

Lyon made a FINE stop on a lateral pass by the Sabres in the slot with 4:11 left in the 2nd when Gustafsson and Holl got tied up together, with Girgensons being stifled;

Sadly, Detroit lost a deep defensive zone faceoff, the puck went off Lyon and then Jeff Petry’s leg, and Bowen Byram made it 4-3 with 4:06 remaining in the 2nd period.

Detroit surrendered a 4-3 goal to Bowen Byram from Owen Power and Dylan Cozens at 15:54 of the 2nd.

Detroit got a nice rush going with Seider pinching to bump Dahlin deep in the offensive zone, he generated a turnover and Larkin got a good shot off that Luukkonen had to stop;

Veleno, Kane and Compher worked together on the next shift, and Gustafsson helped Compher set up a 3-on-2 rush that the Sabres defended well;

As Ken Daniels noted, the Sabres were particularly physical on the Wings in all three zones, and especially near Detroit’s net, and that was problematic in terms of clearing the crease and winning battles for the puck.

Dylan Cozens then sat with 1:07 left in the 2nd due to a slash on Ben Chiarot, and Detroit headed to its first PP.

Detroit held the offensive blueline despite losing the opening faceoff, DeBrincat, Raymond, Gustafsson, Kane and Larkin cycled, and Alex DeBrincat just shanked a shot off the heel of his stick over the net…

Detroit did a fine job of cycling and circling, but they could not generate a tying goal and would have 53 seconds of PP time to start the 3rd.

In the 3rd period: Detroit began the 3rd with 53 seconds of power play time.

Detroit lost the opening faceoff, but Seider and Kane raced up the right side, Raymond surrendered the puck to a Sabre, DeBrincat and Seider played catch and then Larkin and Kane raced into the zone, Raymond dropped for Seider to DeBrincat and back but out to center, Seider was hacked and whacked sans penalty and the power play expired as DeBrincat and Kane worked with Larkin to set up Raymond for a shot that went high and wide.

Detroit then had to defend Thompson, Tuch and Peterka, and Marco Kasper did just that;

The Copp line generated a shot tip by Rasmussen off a point shot from Edvinsson;

The Sabres just looked cool and comfortable with the 1-goal lead, however, and Detroit was squeezing its sticks very heavily as the first 3 minutes of play breezed by.

Detroit did earn an icing faceoff deep in the offensive zone, and Compher won the puck to Chiarot, but Veleno took a tumble along the left wing half boards, and the trio of Compher, Kane and Veleno surrendered a Grade-A scoring chance that Lyon stopped.

After Gustafsson lost a stick, Byram tried to score a second goal off a point shot, but Lyon made a good stop;

5 minutes into the 3rd, Detroit was trailing in shots 34-23, and Detroit’s Copp line was struggling to generate offensive chances, but it sure was trying.

Rasmussen was really feeling good and looked confident, at least.

Detroit was leading the Sabres by a significant amount in the faceoff circle, too, but the Wings were losing key draws;

Edvinsson made a nice stop to prevent Jack Quinn from breaking away at one end, and DeBrincat shanked a pass to a home-free Larkin at the other end;

Berggren, Kasper and Tarasenko at least looked competent and confident together, and while Tarasenko is definitely still adjusting to the Red Wings’ systems of play, Kasper’s energy brings everybody up a level;

With 11:25 left in regulation time, Detroit got a power play as Sam Lafferty sat for a hook;

Detroit could not hold the offensive zone, however, and Kane and Seider had to regroup, Kane struggled to separate himself from a backchecking Sabre, and Samuelsson sent the puck into his own bench, at least giving the Wings a deep offensive zone faceoff;

Larkin won a faceoff to Seider, who was stopped by Luukkonen;

Seider fed Kane and then Raymond who centered the puck, Seider regrouped and found Kane, Larkin fed DeBrincat in the slot and he tried to laterally pass to Raymond;

Dylan Larkin was blocked by Connor Clifton in the slot with 47 left in the PP;

The second unit came out and Gustafsson worked with Berggren, Tarasenko, Kasper and Compher, and they had a rougher go, and Tarasenko tried to tuck the puck in off Lukkonen, but he could not. The power play expired.

With 8:55 remaining, Rasmussen, Fischer and Copp ground the puck out down low, enough that the Sabres had to ice the puck with 8:45 remaining;

Disappointingly, Dylan Larkin’s stick got caught up in the feet of Rasmus Dahlin, he fell over, and Larkin headed to the penalty box with 11:29 gone in the 3rd.

With 8:31 remaining in regulation time, Compher won the opening faceoff and Detroit cleared the defensive zone;

The Wings parried a couple of attempted Sabres rushes away, and Lyon tapped a puck to Chiarot and Petry, who was sealed;

Thompson was lurking in the slot, and then he ripped a shot wide of the goal;

Peterka fired a shot high and wide with 50 seconds left in the PK;

When the second units came out for both teams, Detroit afforded Tuch a PP breakaway, and Lyon made a HUGE STOP to keep the Wings in the game.

Detroit killed the penalty, but 6:30 remained in the 3rd.

Larkin worked with Kane and DeBrincat as the period began to wind down, but Buffalo was generating zone time and offensive chances, too, and the Red Wings needed to get dominant quickly.

Thompson hit the goalpost behind Lyon with about 5:00 remaining;

Buffalo was just cycling and cycling in Detroit’s zone as 4:15 remained, and Detroit needed to steady itself.

Edvinsson was affording Buffalo a couple of turnovers as well, and that was concerning;

The Sabres put the puck into their bench and a final TV timeout hit with 3:31 remaining in the 3rd.

Detroit could not win the deep offensive zone faceoff when play resumed, and the Sabres really set up a trap at center ice, with 5 men back.

Kasper drew in for a deep zone faceoff off an icing, and he lost the draw, so Buffalo iced the puck with 3:01 remaining in the 3rd;

Kasper tied up the next draw, but the Sabres won control and cleared it out to center;

Kasper raced back up the ice, chipped, was held up sans call, and Buffalo cleared the zone trying to set up Thompson for the hat trick;

Lyon exited with 2:05 remaining, and Rasmussen, Larkin, Seider, Raymond, DeBrincat and Kane, and the Wings lost the deep zone faceoff again, Larkin fired the puck in on Luukkonen, Detroit ground as Larkin was boarded, he fed the slot, Rasmussen was blocked off and the Sabres cleared to center ice;

Larkin walked in and could not finish;

And, sadly, Quinn chipped the puck toward an empty net and ended the game at 19:09 of the 3rd, empty net, 5-3 Buffalo.

Buffalo had 39 shots, one into an empty net, and Kane hit the goalpost while Detroit was pressing, but that was it.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

Published by

George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

3 thoughts on “Red Wings-Sabres quick take: Unsustainable trends yield a 5-3 ‘learning experience’ loss”

  1. Coach and GM are at fault. Expecting Eric G and Tarasenko to add to the scoring and yet be better D-wise is not going to cut it. Coach keeps icing Petry sit along with Eric G. Steve needs to waive another player. I would waive Eric G and call up Carter Mazur when playing again. At least he digs in the corners and plays a feisty game.

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  2. We should’ve had a youth movement on D by now. Edvinsson and Tuomisto should be playing full time in Detroit instead of Petry and Gustafsson. It all falls on Yzerman at this point, no one forced him to sign someone like Holl. I mean, five years into the rebuild and the defense is still awful.

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  3. I’m still not mad at Stevie, but I do think that these guys need someone else leading them. They ought to be tougher to play against, on the regular, as opposed to the inconsistency we have seen for 2+ years.
    I don’t mind overbaking the kids either. Holland was doing it during the good times. Magic man Pavel Datysuk didn’t make the team until he was 23, and it was 4 more years before he was a point/game player.
    Holl is an NHL player, and if someone (Johansson, ASP, Buium, etc.) could *Biggie voice “Kick in the door wav’n the .44″* the way Mo & Razor did, and Marco seems to be doing, It WOULD be a youth movement. It’ll come.
    It’s always darkest, before the dawn.

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