Red Wings-Sabres wrap-up: The captain and Old Man Talbot

The Red Wings’ narrow 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night evened the team’s record at 5-5-and-1, snapping a 3-game winless streak.

It really was a matter of survival as both Cam Talbot (30 saves) and Dylan Larkin (2 power-play goals) assuaged an early mistake in a shorthanded goal against, and then the Wings did a lot of surviving the Sabres’ relentless forecheck for parts of the 1st and the majority of the 3rd periods…

But the Wings out-ground the Sabres well enough to hold onto their 2-1 lead and take the game, and, while it was not exactly ideal in terms of time spent in the offensive zone vs. time spent in the defensive zone, nor in the number of shots against (30) or attempts against (71)…

Detroit will get three days’ worth of rest and practice to re-set ahead of Wednesday’s game vs. Chicago, which opens up a stretch of 3 games to be played over the course of 4 nights.

There’s no disrespect to the Sabres intended here–they pushed the Red Wings very hard, as they told BuffaloSabres.com’s Jourdon LaBarber…

The difference in their 2-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday, [Bowen] Byram and [Sabres coach Lindy] Ruff agreed, simply came down to special teams.

“I thought we played hard,” Byram said. “I thought we played a pretty good game. I mean, in terms of back-to-backs since I’ve been here, that’s the best one we’ve played. You’ve got to find positives in things, and I think that’s a big positive for us. A negative is our PK gives up two goals and that ends up winning them the game. That’s unacceptable, so, at the end of the day, whenever you lose a few in a row you’ve got to regroup and forget about the last one, learn from it, and get ready to go again. It’s no different for us. We’ll learn from it and keep moving forward.”

The Sabres, playing a rested opponent after falling to the New York Islanders on Friday, earned an early lead when Alex Tuch stole the puck from Dylan Larkin and scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 11:39 of the first period.

Larkin responded with a pair of power-play goals during the second period, the latter of which stood as the winner despite a strong push from the Sabres through the final 20 minutes. The Sabres generated 13 shots during the third but were kept off the board by goaltender Cam Talbot, who put the finishing touches on a 31-save performance.

Buffalo finished the night 0-for-2 on the power play after scoring with the man advantage in each of the past three games. Both opportunities came during the first period before Detroit had gotten on board.

“I thought we came out with a real strong first period, did a lot of good things,” Ruff said. “But when your power play has an opportunity even late in the period to make the difference, we didn’t get enough done.”

…

“I just thought we played a pretty smart game,” Byram said. “We gave up a couple odd-man rushes, but in the past we’ve given up a lot on back-to-backs and we’ve kind of played loose. I thought tonight we played pretty tight to be honest with you. I thought for a brief stint in the second there we kind of got a little loose and they got a couple chances, but after that and before that, I thought we played a pretty tight game. Like I said, it comes down to special teams. There’s scored and ours didn’t, so yeah, it’s something to work on.”

For Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, the problem for Buffalo laid in its execution, or the lack thereof:

“The puck was right around the net there a couple times, even late,” Ruff said after the Sabres fell to 4-7-1. “We just didn’t get the job done.”

The Sabres outshot the Red Wings, 13-7, during the third period and 32-23 overall. The push to tie it 2-2 in the final minutes included a few notable scoring chances – including a shot from the slot by Tage Thompson – but Buffalo has scored twice at 5-on-5 in its last three games and is now tied for last place in the Atlantic Division.

Special teams were the issue again in Detroit. The power play went 0-for-2, snapping a three-game goal streak, and the penalty kill allowed two goals during an ugly second period for the Sabres.

Mattias Samuelsson failed to clear the puck before Dylan Larkin’s first goal, an odd-angle shot 7:49 into the middle frame, and neither Jordan Greenway nor Dylan Cozens were in position to prevent Larkin from scoring his second goal from in front of Luukkonen, who made 21 saves in the loss.

The Sabres’ power play and penalty kill rank 31st and 28th in the NHL, respectively. The latter is a startling regression from last season, when Buffalo improved to 13th.

“A negative is our PK gives up two goals and that ends up winning them the game,” said Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram. “That’s unacceptable. At the end of the day, whenever you lose a few in a row you’ve got to regroup, learn from it, move on from it and get ready to go again.”

But you might be a little confused as to which team won if you read the recap of WGR 550’s Paul Hamilton, who titled his recap: “Sabres can’t score on Cam Talbot and lose in Detroit; Talbot is not a goalie that should be shutting you down.”

Gord forbid that a 37-year-old can play professional sports without a walker:

All the goodwill the Buffalo Sabres may have produced by going 4-1-1 has been erased as they lost their third straight game on Saturday, 2-1 to the Detroit Red Wings.

It utterly amazes me that this team went 0-2-0 this weekend against the New York Islanders and Detroit. Only scoring two goals on Ilya Sorokin is understandable, but to get “goalied” in the third period by the below average Cam Talbot is just typical for this group.

It actually has been awhile since it happened, but Talbot made some great saves in the third period where the Sabres kicked it into gear and showed some energy and some will to win battles and get sustained zone time. They also for the second straight night spent their time getting shots blocked and missing the net.

If you continue reading, you might conclude that the Sabres simply couldn’t convert playing against Old Man Talbot, and, somewhat ironically, the Red Wings may agree–to some extent–as NHL.com’s Dave Hogg noted.

“[Talbot] was truly the difference maker,” said Larkin, the Detroit captain. “He got us two points tonight with some unbelievable saves. He played pretty much a perfect game.”

Alex Tuch scored for the Sabres (4-7-1), who have lost three in a row. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 21 saves.

Buffalo was coming off a 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Friday.

“The penalty kill was the obvious difference. It is unacceptable to give up two goals,” Tuch said. “In the second half of the game, I thought we took over and played very well, but we need to bury some chances.”

Detroit forward Lucas Raymond nearly opened the scoring on the power play at 11:04 of the first period. Luukkonen stopped his one-timer from the left face-off circle, and the puck got behind the goalie before Buffalo defenseman Owen Power cleared the puck out of the crease.

Later during the same power play, Tuch put Buffalo in front 1-0 at 11:39 when he stole the puck from Larkin at the red line and scored on a short-handed breakaway.

“I put that goal on myself,” Larkin said. “Turning that puck over was unacceptable.”

Larkin made up for it with his pair of power play goals, and the Red Wings were taking positives out of their victory, as they told the Free Press’s Helene St. James…

“You hold that team to one goal, no five-on-five goals, it’s a pretty good night on everyone,” coach Derek Lalonde said.

Larkin scored twice in the second period, erasing the lead the Sabres built in the first period.

Cam Talbot came through with 31 saves as the Sabres pulled their goalie with 2:25 to play.

“Truly the difference maker, what got us two points,” Larkin said. “Unbelievable stops all night. Pretty perfect game. I put the one goal against on myself and turned that puck over. Pretty unacceptable.”

Rookie defenseman Albert Johansson, among those who had a tough outing Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets, stayed in the lineup, on a pairing with Erik Gustafsson. That meant two lefthanded shooters, with Johansson playing on the right side, while right-shot defenseman Justin Holl was scratched.

…

The Wings killed off an early penalty to Patrick Kane handily enough, allowing the Sabres only one shot on net. Then Wings went on a power play midway through the first period, and Lucas Raymond had a great chance down low only to see his shot blocked by Owen Power (Michigan). That’s the type of play that builds momentum. But rather than run with it, the Wings were scored on while shorthanded when Alex Tuch stole the puck off Larkin and skated in on Talbot, snapping a shot from the slot.

“I wanted that goal back — you get a turnover like that, you want to be the guy to bail them out,” Talbot said. “I was upset at myself that I wasn’t able to do that, but I felt good the rest of the night. Guys played great in front of me.”

Talbot simply felt that he did his job, as he told Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff…

“I had my sight lines for pretty much every shot tonight, so anytime we can do that it puts us in a great spot,” Talbot said after Saturday’s win. “If I can see the puck, I try to control it the best I can. Put the puck in the corner, eat it, swallow it, do whatever we can to kill the play.”

Ultmately, that’s what an NHL team wants from its netminder. They are stopping all of the shots they should stop. When they do give up a goal, it must be well-earned by the opposition. Talbot is delivering that level of puckstopping.

“Some elite starts,” Lalonde said. “You kind of grade your goalies on elites or great starts, okay starts, not good starts, kind of three categories. And he’s put a handful in that top one already. And it just gives us great opportunity. Key saves at key times, but just the calmness of eating pucks at times.”

It’s that calmness that Talbot exudes when between the pipes that Lalonde most likes. And that savvy, veteran exterior is also beginning to make an appearance inside the Detroit dressing room.

“It’s a mature NHL veteran who’s seen a lot in this league and he’s starting to have a voice in the room,” Lalonde said. “Just talking about what’s needed at times in the room. So been a huge positive throughout from camp on.”

And the Red Wings were trying to accentuate the positive regarding the “zone time” they created during Saturday night’s game, as they told Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:

“They got some zone time, but a lot of it was on the outside,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. And that’s a big area of emphasis for us. Keep things out of the slot, keep them to the outside, and let our goalies handle what comes from the point. And they do that. So, I would have liked a little more of his own grind in the third and throughout the game.”

Strong goaltending (31 saves) by Cam Talbot. Holding a one-goal lead throughout the third period. Aggressive defensive play. This is what the Red Wings have been looking for since the start of the season.

“That’s a quality win,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “Again, that’s a really good offensive team. It’s a small sample size, 10 games, but they’re trending as one of the top offensive teams in a lot of categories. So again, the power play was good tonight. Penalty kill, two for two. And I liked our third. I still think we probably can make a few more plays there in the third, but I think we were consciously trying to make a few more plays.”

As for the power play…

With the Red Wings receiving two Larkin power play goals in four opportunities, they now rank eighth in the NHL (26.5%).

“A lot of confidence, and I think it’s had to be built,” Larkin said. “We finally got the five guys on the ice that are out there, and you see the confidence now and you see the puck movement, you see the plays. We have five really talented players out there, and we move around a lot. There’s a lot of movement, which is good.

Larkin leads the team with seven goals, and five of them have come on the power play.

“Now he’s trending,” Lalonde said. “It’s a go-to. Usually, when we (have) a quality game like this — since I’ve been here — it’s usually driven by Dylan.”

Talbot told the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton that Larkin was–as you might expect–hard on himself after giving up that shorthanded marker…

“This guy was hard on himself after the first and really picked the boys back up there in the second period and buried a couple for us,” said goaltender Cam Talbot after the game, gesturing toward Larkin seated to his right at the podium. “And that’s just what you want your leader to do.”

Larkin himself, in keeping with his status as the Red Wings’ leader, preferred to defer credit back to Talbot, saying that his goaltender was “truly the difference maker, the one that got us two points,” while in the same breath adding, “I put the one goal against on myself and turning that puck over—pretty unacceptable.”

Talbot, too, was in the mood for sharing credit after his 31 save effort, lauding the effort of the skaters in front of him to minimize the challenge of those stops. “I thought the guys did a good job of boxing out tonight,” he said. “I had my sight lines for pretty much every shot tonight, so any time we can do that, it puts us in a great spot. If I can see the puck, I try to control it the best I can: Put the puck in the corner, eat it, swallow it, do whatever I can to kill the play. I thought that where we gave up the shots from tonight wasn’t as taxing as maybe earlier on in the season.”

The Red Wings’ 3rd period effort was not perfect, but it was enough:

Thanks to Larkin, the Red Wings carried a two-goal lead into the third, and between Talbot and those defensive zone box outs, Detroit was able to grind its way to victory. Lalonde didn’t see a perfect closing effort from his group, but it was nonetheless and effective one.

“We gave up 13 shots,” he noted of the final frame. “I have to go back and look back at actually what Grade A’s we had [against]. I don’t feel like there was a ton there…So that’s a positive third, and we had a couple looks ourselves. With that said, when we did give up an opportunity, Cam was there. And again, that’s just a high-end offensive team pushing. They’re gonna get their looks…I thought our defense was positive. I thought we stayed on our toes. The one area I still think we can keep growing is just a few more plays out of zone to be a little better in those situations.”

The Red Wings told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan that they respected the Sabres’ offensive pop…

“We’ve had flashes of this,” Lalonde said. “That’s a quality win. It’s a really good offensive team. It’s a small sample size but they’re trending as one of the top offensive teams in a lot of categories. The power play was good tonight, the penalty kill was 2-for-2 and I liked our third (period). We can still make a few more plays there in the third, but a lot of positives.”

Larkin felt it was an important victory against a division rival, and the way the Wings won was promising.

“It means a lot,” Larkin said. “We needed it, especially with the way things have been going, kind of a roller coaster we’ve been on. It’s still not perfect, but a good performance at home, a good win on home ice, and we got our matchups tonight. We played them tough.”

And again, the Wings were proud of their power play’s maturation:

“We got the five guys on the ice that are out there and you see the confidence now,” Larkin said. “The puck movement and the plays, we have five really talented players out there and we move around a lot, which is good and tonight was probably on display a little more the way they (Sabres) kill. We were just finding passing lanes and winning pucks back and attacking the net. It’s huge when your power play can go out there and provide two goals like that.”

Among DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills’ post-game quotes:

Larkin on Talbot

“Truly the difference-maker. He got us two points. Unbelievable stops there all night.”

Larkin on Detroit’s all-around performance on Saturday

“It definitely helps winning it….They got some zone time, but a lot of it was on the outside. That was a big area of emphasis for us. Keep things out of the slot, keep them to the outside and let our goalies handle what comes from the point, and they do that.”

Talbot on how he felt against the Sabres

“I wanted that goal back as much as [Larkin] did. You get a turnover like that, you want to be the guy to bail him out. I wanted to pick him up. I was upset at myself that I wasn’t able to do that, but I felt good the rest of the night. Guys played great in front of me; easy game to kind of read off the guys in front. If I did leave something there, they were there to clear it out in front for me.”

Multimedia:

Highlights: Sportsnet posted a 10:24 highlight clip…