Red Wings-Sabres Tweetcap: Thompson, resilient Sabres help Wings blow a 4-1 lead, lose 5-4 in OT.

The Detroit Red Wings looked to build upon Thursday’s victory against the Anaheim Ducks as they hosted the struggling Buffalo Sabres and returning captain Rasmus Dahlin on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena, kicking off a stretch of back-to-back games for Detroit (who will play in New York against the Rangers tomorrow night).

On Saturday evening, well, I don’t know what to make of this one.

10:23 in, Patrick Kane scored from Ben Chiarot, but Alex Tuch scored an unassisted marker only 29 seconds later to make it 1-1…

Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin and DeBrincat (again) would score 3 goals in 4:58 to give Detroit a 4-1 lead, commanding, no less, at between 3:52 and 8:50 of the 2nd…

And as DeBrincat looked en route to a hat trick, the Wings fell apart.

Josh Doan scored 17:58 into the 2nd, Tage Thompson overpowered the Wings at 4:25 of the 3rd and deked and dangled his way into the slot to score on Gibson, Ryan McLeod stripped Moritz Seider of the puck at 9:28 of the 3rd while on the PK, and blazed in on a breakaway…

And in overtime, Thompson mauled Alex DeBrincat with a legal check, passed back to Martin Samuelsson, and he fired the OT winner home at 1:05 of OT.

Buffalo out-shot Detroit 13-8 in the 2nd and 1-0 in OT after being out-shot 20-13 over the first 40 minutes of the game, and I guess the dangerous Sabres earned their win–as Detroit earned its loss.

Now the Red Wings head to New York tomorrow to play the Rangers.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Colten Ellis led their respective teams out onto the ice at Little Caesars Arena:

The Sabres posted their “game night lineup” early…

The Red Wings posted their lineup a little closer to game time…

1ST PERIOD:

The teams dressed the following starters and lineups:

Tage Thompson charged up with a 2-on-1 against the Wings about 2:30 into the 1st period, and Thompson clanged a puck off the goalpost behind John Gibson, all thanks to a bad pinch by Simon Edvinsson.

Detroit held Buffalo off the shot clock until 8:38 had expired in the 1st period, with Detroit out-shooting Buffalo only 2-1, which portended a lower-scoring game…

GOAL: But at 10:38 of the 1st period, an Axel Sandin Pellikka pinch along the right wing half boards yielded a terrible turnover by the Sabres’ left defenseman, and Ben Chiarot held the line, sent the puck to Patrick Kane, and Kane tipped the puck past Ellis at 10:23…

Detroit 1, Buffalo 0: Kane (3) from Chiarot (3) at 10:23…

GOAL: But Buffalo took the puck away from Simon Edvinsson on an ill-advised pinch up the left wing half boards, in his haste, Edvinsson skated back and ran over John Gibson, and Alex Tuch tapped the puck off Moritz Seider’s stick and into the net.

Detroit 1, Buffalo 1: Tuch (7), unassisted at 10:52.

Buffalo is an exceedingly dangerous team against Detroit, and they generated some particularly scary moments for a loose Red Wings team, especially in the last minute of play, in which the Wings were cycled in their own zone for over a minute and a half.

Detroit barely held on and gave up 2 shots as Buffalo cycled and cycled and changed lines and cycled some more.

2ND PERIOD:

GOAL: Only 3:52 into the 2nd, Bowen Byram lost control of the puck at the Sabres’ goal line, Lucas Raymond raced to take control and tapped the puck to Alex DeBrincat, who was stopped by Colten Ellis…But DeBrincat corralled the rebound and sent the puck past the Sabres’ sprawled-out goaltender to make it 2-1 Detroit.

Detroit 2, Buffalo 1: DeBrincat (7) from Raymond (12).

PENALTY: Alex Tuch was called for tripping Nate Danielson at the Sabres’ blueline at 5:26 of the 2nd period.

PENALTY: Then Patrick Kane was called for tripping at 5:40, affording both teams a 4-on-4…

GOAL: And Dylan Larkin managed to walk the offensive zone blueline, find Lucas Raymond down low right wing side, and charge through the slot to take a pass and fire home the Wings’ 3-1 goal at 5:56 of the 2nd period.

Detroit 3, Buffalo 1: Larkin (11) from Raymond (13) and Seider (7) at 5:56 2nd period.

PENALTY: Dunne was nailed for pulling down a certain Axel Sandin Pellikka in the offensive zone at 8:29…

GOAL: And on the power play, Alex DeBrincat took a pass from Lucas Raymond, looked to find Patrick Kane, and instead, the Sabres’ defenseman put the puck between Ellis’ legs at 8:50 of the 2nd…

Detroit 4, Buffalo 1: DeBrincat (8) from Raymond (14) and Seider (8) at 8:50 2nd period, PPG.

PENALTY: Jordan Greenway high-sticked and then wrestled down Axel Sandin Pellikka at 15:37 of the 2nd period, and he was called for interference, oblivious to his transgressions.

GOAL: Instead of scoring on the power play, Buffalo won a faceoff in Detroit’s end, Rasmus Dahlin fired a shot on goal and Josh Doan put the puck off his body and in at 17:55 to make it 4-2.

Detroit 4, Buffalo 2: Doan (5) from Dahlin (9) at 17:58 2nd period.

PENALTY: Simon Edvinsson then took a hooking penalty at 18:23, affording Buffalo the opportunity to make it tight.

TIMEOUT: Buffalo called timeout at 18:23, knowing that they could make the 4-1 game a 4-3 game in a hurry.

Detroit killed 1:37 of the Sabres’ PP to end the 2nd, so…

3RD PERIOD:

Detroit killed off the remainder of the Sabres’ power play, though Tage Thompson got off 2 shots and a 3rd attempt that was blocked into the crowd…

GOAL: Moritz Seider got caught up ice, Alex DeBrincat had to defend Tage Thompson, and could not, and Thompson deked and dangled and fired a shot through John Gibson to make it 4-3 at 4:25 of the 3rd period.

Detroit 4, Buffalo 3: Thompson (8) from Doan (7) and Ellis (1) at 4:25 of the 3rd period.

PENALTY: Simon Edvinsson got a 2-minute minor for high-sticking Alex Tuch, and it was served by Jonatan Berggren at 5:37 of 3rd, because…

Detroit managed to barely kill the penalty, and…

PENALTY: At 8:05 of the 3rd, Peyton Krebs was called for tripping J.T. Compher on a breakaway.

GOAL: Moritz Seider was jabbed by McLeod, who raced in alone shorthanded on John Gibson, and went over the pad under the blocker, and it was 4-4 at 9:28 of the 3rd period.

Detroit 4, Buffalo 4: Ryan McLeod (4), unassisted, shorthanded at 9:28 3rd period.

PENALTY: Jonatan Berggren was called for interference at 10:13 of the 3rd period.

PENALTY: Buffalo was called for too many men at 17:27 of the 3rd.

Edvinsson returned with 15.5 left in the 3rd, and…

IN OVERTIME:

GOAL: Martin Samuelsson scored as Tage Thompson shoved Alex DeBrincat off the puck, Andrew Copp and Axel Sandin Pellikka stood and watched Samuelsson take a shot and he beat Gibson to make it 5-4 Buffalo, sending the crowd home unhappy at 1:03 of overtime.

Buffalo 5, Detroit 4: Samuelsson (3) from Thompson (8) and Dahlin (10) at 1:05 OT.

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!