Red Wings-Sabres quick take: just good enough as Talbot and Larkin star in a 2-1 grinding win

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 3-game slide (0-2-and-1) against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.

The Sabres had dropped a Friday night loss to the New York Islanders, and had lost 2 straight, but playing back-to-back is usually not a problem for Buffalo, which most recently inflicted 5-3 win over the Red Wings last Saturday.

On Saturday night, well…You don’t write this kind of game up in the manual as “The Kind Of Game You Want To Play” against Buffalo, but the Wings rallied from a shorthanded Jason Zucker goal vs. Dylan Larkin via–get this–2 Dylan Larkin power play goals–and Cam Talbot was stout in the Wings’ net, stopping 30 of 31 shots against, as Detroit rallied and prevailed 2-1 over the tough-luck Sabres.

Detroit gave up too many shots against, Detroit gave up too much zone time against–again–and Detroit really had to play rope-a-dope hockey in the 1st and 3rd, but it was enough thanks to dogged effort.

Enough to snap the 3-game losing streak, and enough to build upon going into Chicago on Wednesday.

During the pre-game skate, Cam Talbot led the Wings out of the locker room…

While Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen led the Sabres out:

The starters and scratches were as follows:

In the 1st period, Copp, Compher and Raymond drew in for the opening faceoff with Edvinsson and Seider, the Wings won the faceoff and chipped, Buffalo retrieved and Edvinsson helped Raymond drop for Compher right wing side, he was sealed by Byram and Thompson was blocked off, Edvinsson raced up the right wing, and the Sabres took over, facilitating a line change at 35 seconds;

A weird deflection yielded TWO HUGE STOPS by Talbot off a puck that bounced the wrong way off Talbot’s toe, with Larkin helping Talbot keep the puck out of the net:

Kane, Larkin and DeBrincat dumped, chased, but afforded Buffalo a regroup, and got off the ice;

Berggren, Kasper and Tarasenko generated the first actual shot on goal as Berggren put the puck in on Luukkonen, who made a solid stop just under two minutes in;

Kasper, Berggren and Tarasenko then forced an icing call against at 2:13, they chnaged and Kane, DeBrincat and Larkin returned for a lost offensive zone faceoff, a surrendered rush against, and the referees stopped play to assess a penalty to Patrick Kane at 2:35 for hooking.

On the penalty kill, Buffalo won the opening draw, Talbot made a good toe save and Larkin, Raymond, Edvinsson and Seider cleared the zone;

Fischer, Compher, Chiarot and Petry then came out and got a deflected puck tipped out of play 40 seconds into the PK;

Compher won the deep offensive zone faceoff, but the Sabres gained possession; Compher chipped the puck out at center and attempted to break away, but he was sealed off;

Raymond then raced in shorthanded, and was hooked heavily sans penalty by Payton Krebs;

Buffalo’s Quinn then fired in a shot that was stopped with 30 left on the PK;

Tuch was stopped by Talbot;

And the Sabres’ final rush was dangerous, but it did not result in a goal against as Lafferty and Thompson battled and Talbot had to make a big post-PK stop through traffic.

As play continued, the Berggren line generated two shots via Albert Johansson from the point, but Tarasenko flubbed a pass to Johansson at the point, and the team had to regroup and change 5:15 in;

The Larkin line had a hard time getting through neutral ice, and was defended very tightly;

Finally, Rasmussen, Veleno and Fischer got onto the ice some 6:45 into the 1st, and they bumped and ground pretty well;

When play resumed, the Sabres dodged a break that should have gone the Wings’ way when a shot came off the stanchion out in front of Luukkonen, and it just rolled out of trouble;

Berggren broke past a Sabres defenseman on the right wing, but fired a shot wide;

Detroit then iced the puck twice, and the Kasper line was afforded a break when a Sabre broke his stick, and Berggren generated a shot on goal on a 3-on-2 rush;

Edvinsson got a shot off and Johansson blew another chance wide off two offensive zone faceoffs;

The Sabres really checked the Larkin line hard, and Raymond, Compher and Copp got more pressure on the Sabres, affording Edvinsson a wide shot, but there was no fatigue from the Sabres despite playing in a second half of a back-to-back scenario.

After the second TV timeout, the hard-charging Sabres generated a scoring chance off a turnover by Johansson and Rasmussen, but Rasmussen nearly tipped a puck into the net going the other way in traffic, and Buffalo was assessed a penalty at 10:57 as Beck Malenstyn grabbed and held Erik Gustafsson deep in the Sabres’ zone.

On the power play, Larkin, Raymond, DeBrincat, Kane and Seider worked the puck through the slot and DeBrincat made a glorious shot, Raymond got the rebound but it was blocked by the Sabres’ defenseman behind Luukkonen;

And instead, the Red Wings then surrendered a shorthanded goal off a Larkin turnover at center ice, with Alex Tuch racing in and flipping the puck through Cam Talbot’s legs to make it 1-0 Buffalo.

Tuch scored unassisted at 11:39 to make it 1-0 Buffalo at 11:39.

Detroit felt like it was skating uphill as Tarasenko, Gustafsson, Kasper, Compher and Berggren worked the second PP unit, playing perimeter hockey for the most part as the fans growled impatiently, and Gustafsson’s shot was blocked out of play.

Detroit did not score on the power play.

Instead, Veleno and Rasmussen were stopped on a 2-on-2 break by Luukkonen;

Compher, Copp and Raymond surrendered a shot attempt that Talbot did not see, but stopped anyway;

Seider joined the rush and helped the Compher line generate some zone time, but again, the Sabres checked Detroit hard, and Buffalo looked calm and in control as the final five minutes of the first period hit.

Then Kane, DeBrincat and Larkin surrendered a 3-on-3 in which Dahlin fired one shot wide, a second shot wide off a Sabre, and Byram chipped and changed;

Larkin, DeBrincat and Tarasenko generated some zone time on a chance where Larkin was tripped without a penalty being called;

Buffalo iced the puck with 3:56 left in the 1st, and Tarasenko and Berggren generated a scoring chance or two, but Kasper’s shot at the side of the net was blocked, and the line was forced out of the Sabres’ zone;

Tuch, Thompson and Zucker generated two shots off the Veleno line’s struggles in their own zone, and as Chiarot and Petry attempted to help, Buffalo generated a power play opportunity and they pulled their goaltender, heading to the power play at 18:29. Chiarot sat for slashing Zucker’s stick out of his hands.

On the penalty-kill, Seider and Edvinsson could not clear, but Raymond helped break out shorthanded and flip a puck deep;

Raymond then fell over on his own and he, Larkin, Seider and Edvinsson worked together, with Raymond giving Seider a stick after Seider’s was broken;

Compher and Copp then worked together for the final few seconds of the period, and Talbot made a big stop on Quinn to tip a puck out of play with 14 seconds remaining;

Detroit ended the 1st period by fronting the Sabres and negating a shot attempt.

In the 2nd period, Detroit began on the PK for 29 seconds, and Copp, Compher, Edvinsson and Seider won the draw, flicked the puck down the ice, and, when Buffalo broke out of their zone, Copp and Compher blocked the Sabres once, Talbot stopped a long point shot, and Detroit had to surrender another shot attempt against as the Tuch-Thompson-Zucker line menaced Detroit.

Larkin’s line then came out, lost a defensive zone faceoff, and Talbot was bailed out by Larkin as a puck lay at his feet.

A bad drop pass by Erik Gustafsson then resulted in a regroup at center ice;

DeBrincat stole the puck and fired a pass to Kane, who chipped a shot in on Luukkonen that was stopped;

Kasper, Tarasenko and Berggren then worked together and generated a couple of shot attempts, with the help of Gustafsson, who rang a puck off the post via a Berggren tip;

Rasmussen, Fischer and Veleno worked with Seider and Edvinsson to grind out pucks down low, a couple of times, but Buffalo at least generated enough back pressure to stifle their scoring attempts;

Compher, Copp and Raymond then worked opposite the Thompson line, and after generating an icing faceoff, the Larkin line lost the deep zone draw and Buffalo just chipped the puck down the ice.

It was Lindy Ruff hockey at its worst.

Trap, trap, trap.

Trap, trap, trap.

Larkin did generate a shot attempt and Kane and DeBrincat helped Chiarot send another puck near Luukkonen on the regroup, but Buffalo was checking the snot out of the Red Wings.

Talbot made a stop with the Compher line on the ice, Dahlin pinched vs. Edvinsson and Dahlin sent a shot wide of the net, he regrouped and Peterka was blocked off by Raymond, he fed Compher and Copp was the one who was open…So the Sabres blocked off the 3-on-2 rush by Detroit.

Detroit iced the puck with 13:42 remaining in the 2nd, and Kasper won the draw, but Detroit was chased up and down the ice, Buffalo iced the puck at 6:43, and the Kasper unit could not generate a chance off the faceoff win;

They did regroup and Tarasenko found Chiarot for a shot attempt wide that resulted in a penalty to Owen Power, who cross-checked Berggren behind the net at 7:17.

Detroit won the PP faceoff, Seider, Raymond, Kane and Larkin worked the perimeter, DeBrincat tried to screen Luukkonen (really!), Seider was blocked off, but LARKIN RIPPED A PASS FROM KANE INTO THE NET TO TIE THE GAME AT 1 at 7:49.

Dylan Larkin scored from Kane at 7:49 to make it 1-1.

Buffalo raced right back into the Wings’ zone on the bump-up shift, and they menaced Kasper’s line for a bit;

Veleno’s came out, and Fischer and Rasmussen generated a great scoring chance in which Fischer fed Rasmussen wide, and Rasmussen fed Fischer wide, Petry was tipped by Rasmussen and Luukkonen stopped that one.

The Larkin line was helped by Johansson and Gustafsson on the next shift;

Tuch stole the puck from Edvinsson but lost his stick, affording Detroit a break-out where Compher and Copp fed Raymond but the pass was blocked;

Buffalo went the other way 4-on-1, and Dahlin was blocked off;

Zucker one-timed a shot wide of the net. Thinking it was in the net, he celebrated;

Buffalo continued to cycle as the Thompson line was replaced by Cozens and Peterka, Talbot made a good stop as the Wings tired out, and Talbot made a third stop on Samuelsson. The Wings were rewarded for their diligence with a TV timeout.

When play resumed, the Sabres worked the puck deep, but up came Rasmussen with Fischer, and Rasmussen didn’t see Fischer open for what would have been a tuck-in goal.

Detroit then won a deep zone faceoff, and Gustafsson set up Kane for a one-timer, but Buffalo’s back-checking was sterling.

DeBrincat was blocked off on the next 3-on-2 for Detroit, Johansson and Gustafsson worked a shot attempt wide, DeBrincat found Kane and he fired a long shot off the blocker of Luukkonen…

Larkin and Johansson and Gustafsson then did a good job of stifling a Sabres rush;

Jordan Greenway found Dahlin coming off the bench, and Talbot made a huge stop some 13:10 into the 2nd;

Tarasenko, Berggren and Petry generated a 3-on-2 in which Luukkonen made a huge toe stop on Berggren;

Berggren then fed Seider for a shot that went wide;

And Buffalo got tagged for delay of game at 14:25 as Jack Quinn ripped the puck right out of play.

On the power play, Larkin drew in for the offensive zone faceoff, he won it to Seider, the line weas walked, Raymond fed Larkin, down low DeBrincat fed Larkin and HE RIPPED A SECOND GOAL INTO THE NET 12 SECONDS INTO THE POWER PLAY.

Dylan Larkin scored off the crossbar and in to make it 2-1 at 14:38. DeBrincat and Raymond assisted.

ON the bump-up shift, Raymond stopped a shot and ANDREW COPP WAS STOPPED BY ALEX TUCH IN THE NET BEHIND LUUKKONEN:

Buffalo then generated a rush vs. the Kasper grouup, cycled down low, and Johansson and Gustafsson worked well to clear the zone via Berggren’s help;

Greenaway cycled deep but Gustafsson and Johansson, again, worked well together, and Greenway cycled, the Sabres continued to grind, and Kasper came back to help his defensemen;

Buffalo cycled outside their own zone, and Dahlin ripped his stick in half with anger at the bench;

Talbot made a massive stop on Cozens as the Veleno line was backed in once, twice, and then it broke out, with the Sabres seemingly cracking down back to their Lindy Ruff Trap Hockey…

Raymond and Copp and Compher joined the fray with a minute left in the 2nd, and Raymond fed Edvinsson for a boomer that was blocked, Raymond watched Thompson as the Sabres chipped, Seider reversed the puck to center ice, and Kulich battled Seider back into the Wings’ zone…

Dahlin fired a high shot wide, Byram walked the line, walked deep, dropped to Kulich, and Talbot made a big stop off Greenaway, who was grabbed by Edvinsson as he attempted to attack Raymond.

In the 3rd period, Copp, Compher and Raymond won the first faceoff, checked well in the neutral zone, but iced the puck some 17 seconds in.

Detroit won the deep zone faceoff, however, and Edvinsson and Seider helped them chip, though it was the Sabres who chased the puck out to center ice.

The Larkin line hopped over the boards and Kane tried to feed Gustafsson with 54 seconds gone, but the Sabres picked that puck off and put it out of play–legally.

Kane then fed DeBrincat for a fine set-up for Larkin in the slot, but the Sabres did a hell of a job blocking off Larkin, and Greenaway and Zucker went the other way, firing a shot on Talbot instead;

Kasper then generated a good scoring chance on Luukkonen, lost the offensive zone faceoff, and Buffalo counter-attacked, cycling deep in the offensive zone.

Long story short, the Red Wings and Sabres were evenly-matched early in the 3rd period, and that was the plain and honest truth.

Buffalo did flex its offensive muscles as Tage Thompson rocketed a shot in on Talbot, and the rebound was blocked well;

Talbot blockered away a Zucker shot, and the Sabres cycled away vs. the Compher line, with Tuch, Thompson and Zucker stifled by a Talbot glove save at 3:55.

Larkin, DeBrincat and Kane tried to respond to the Sabres’ cycling, and they forced an icing call at 4:22, but they afforded Kasper & company the shift ahead, and a board battle went the Sabres’ way, Johansson did a nice job of retrieving the puck, and the teams parried chances.

Buffalo persisted, and Byram ripped a high shot wide;

Dahlin hit a leg with a snapper and Talbot stopped the deflected shot;

Kasper, Gustafsson and Johansson got caught out long on the ice vs. Lafferty’s line, and Dahlin and Power, and the Sabres really menaced the Wings, but Detroit was patient, and Gustafsson chipped a puck out that afforded a chance after a nearly two-minute shift for the Wings’ young players.

Rasmussen, Veleno and Fischer tried to generate a jam chance, but instead, the Sabres played the Thompson line and forced the Wings to back-check, battle and change as the Sabres were earning all the zone time.

Raymond and Byram got into a bit of a scrap in the Sabres’ zone after Byram clipped Raymond and Cozens ran Raymond high, and Talbot made a good stop at the other end;

With 11:54 left in regulation time, Detroit wasn’t getting any offensive zone time, and that was a problem.

Tage Thompson got a shot off the faceoff after the TV timeout that was stopped by Talbot and cleared to the line, but no further, and Buffalo cycled vs. Compher and company, Talbot made a huge stop, and Seider flipped the puck down the ice;

Larkin’s line regrouped and Talbot made another huge stop on Quinn before Buffalo flexed again, Edvinsson and Chiarot charged up the ice, and DeBrincat got the Wings’ first scoring chance in a while, with a jab in on Luukkonen.

Detroit wasn’t really getting any breaks in terms of bounces or icings, so the Kasper line drew in with 10:02 gone in the 3rd and won the deep defensive zone faceoff, Tuch won a battle vs. Berggren for the puck, and Tuch raced in, stopped by Talbot.

Again, however, Kasper won draws and the Wings were able to change, at least, before Buffalo attacked again.

When Luukkonen gave the puck away to Fischer, Veleno fanned on what would have been a 3-1 goal on a one-timer;

When play resumed after a TV timeout, Kane, Larkin and DeBrincat tried to establish a forecheck, but they were unsuccessful;

Thankfully, Johansson and Gustafsson were stout, and they helped the Larkin line stave off a trio icings against Thompson and company;

DeBrincat got an elbow to the face for stopping an icing against, and he forced the Sabres to chip the puck the other way and ice it themselves;

Ultimately, however, the Sabres won the deep faceoff against the Compher line, and Talbot had to make a stop on Kulich, Copp was able to clear and change lines, but Buffalo held the puck for a while, and the Kasper line came onto the ice.

Edvinsson stood up against Greenway and gave some pushes as the Wings started to finally stifle the Sabres’ cycle with about 5:30 left in regulation time;

Chiarot and Petry sent a tipped shot and another tipped shot wide of Luukkonen, and Veleno and Fischer and Rasmussen could at least generate some pressure, forcing the Sabres to ice the puck;

Kane, Larkin and DeBrincat then cycled heavily and Kane got a shot on goal, Larkin took a hit but emerged unscathed, Seider bumped Peterka, and Detroit couldn’t quite generate more than a Seider chip dump on Luukkonen.

With 4:10 remaining, it was still tight.

The final TV timeout hit, and afterward, Larkin won a draw to DeBrincat, he cycled down low to Kane, he dropped to Larkin and Luukkonen stifled the Wings.

DeBrincat and Kane tried to connect as well, but Buffalo raced away, Cozens was stopped and Kane found DeBrincat for a shot that was stopped by Luukkonen.

Edvinsson and Seider were really stout, and Rasmussen reached around Greenaway, sent a puck off the outside of the net, and the Sabres regrouped…

Zucker and Power fired shots wide with Talbot swimming, and Rasmussen cleared and Detroit changed with 2:45 remaining;

Ultimately, Seider and Edvinsson were on the ice for almost two minutes before they got out, and Luukkonen was pulled with about 2:30 remaining.

Buffalo worked the Thompson group and Talbot made THREE GOOD STOPS on Quinn and Peterka to keep the Wings in the lead.

With 1:59 remaining, Buffalo called timeout, Cozens and Larkin were tied up on the faceoff, and 6-on-5, Buffalo cycled, Detroit cleared via a Compher clear, Raymond battled Byram deep in Buffalo’s end before backing off, and when the Sabres raced in, Talbot made a great stop on Thompson from distance.

Larkin won another draw and Seider and Raymond cleared for Compher, Compher walked 1 on 3 and was blocked wide by Dahlin vs. the empty net…

With 1:03 remaining, Byram fired a shot high and wide, and Detroit cleared the zone again;

Dahlin chipped and chased, Raymond could not clear once, Seider could flip it deep, and Raymond menaced Dahlin while the Wings changed with 35 seconds left.

Dahlin chipped, Copp and Seider pinned the puck deep, Chiarot chased the rim around, Tuch was blocked by Copp, Tuch centered, Seider was pulled down with 6 seconds left, and Buffalo touched with 1.7 left–with a penalty coming–and Detroit won.

Jordan Greenway sat at 19:58 and Detroit won the draw, Copp shot it wide and that was the game. Detroit won 2-1.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

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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!