Red Wings-Sabres preseason wrap-up: DeBrincat, Anton Johansson and the rest of Detroit’s roster embracing an edgier game

The Detroit Red Wings advanced their preseason record to 2-0-and-1 after defeating the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 in overtime on Thursday evening.

NHL.com’s recap will tell you the “just the facts” part of the narrative:

Alex DeBrincat won it for the Red Wings 33 seconds into overtime, finishing a one-timer from the left circle off a feed from Lucas Raymond during a power play.

Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Sheldon Dries also scored for the Red Wings (2-0-1). Daniil Tarasov made 17 saves.

Jiri Kulich and Trevor Kuntar scored for the Sabres (1-1-1). Ellis made 16 saves.

Kuntar gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 10:48 of the first period, roofing a shot after retrieving a failed clearing attempt by Tarasov.

Sandin-Pellikka tied it 1-1 at 16:11 with a power-play goal, a one-timer from the right circle off a feed from Anton Johansson.

Kulich scored 33 seconds into the second period to put Buffalo back ahead 2-1 after his shot on the rush trickled through Tarasov’s five-hole.

Dries tied it 2-2 at 7:13 of the third period, redirecting Jacob Bryson’s shot from the blue line in the left circle.

Even though this was an exhibition game, this game was particularly scrappy in the literal and figurative senses, with the Red Wings rallying from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to force overtime, and Alex DeBrincat of all people getting in a fight with Trevor Kuntar amidst a bunch of individual and collective scraps and scrapes.

Mo & cat shenanigans #LGRW pic.twitter.com/R4BFAPwsGU
— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) September 25, 2026

The game didn’t go particularly well for Buffalo, which lost both Alex Lyon (upper-body injury) and Jiri Kulich (precautionary pull) to injuries, and Kuntar said this to BuffaloSabres.com’s Justin Alpert:

To start the third period, Kuntar absorbed a big (and penalized) hit from Detroit defenseman Moritz Seider. Gavin McCarthy jumped in to defend his fellow Buffalo native and childhood friend, then Kuntar dropped the gloves with Alex DeBrincat in the resulting scrum. Both fighters got a couple punches in.

“I mean, I wasn’t too happy about that hit, so I was gonna do something anyways,” Kuntar said. “And I’m really proud of Gav going in there and sticking out for me like that. I’m happy to get into a fight, I don’t really care, it was fun, so it was good.”

DeBrincat displayed his own level of enthusiasm for the scrappy game as a whole, as the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan noted:

“It’s always fun to see the guys battling for each other and winning the game is fun, too,” said DeBrincat, who was playing his first preseason game. “No matter if it’s preseason, or whatever it is, it’s always fun to come out with a win. It’s really good to get our legs under, and feel good about our game. We played well. We didn’t give up too much and we had a lot of (offensive) chances. It’s something we can build off for sure.”

The Wings are, incredibly, beginning the regular season next week, after this shortened preseason. DeBrincat feels the Wings, who began training camp last week, are ready.

“We don’t really have a choice,” said DeBrincat, of whether the Wings are ready. “I feel good. Camp has been pretty good and we’re learning things each day and getting better each day. My first game out there, it felt good to get a game and get your timing down.”

As DeBrincat suggests, the Red Wings and the rest of the NHL are adjusting to a 4-game, 1-week-long preseason, down from 2 weeks’ worth of practices and up to 8 games’ worth of preseason activities.

Given the condensed nature of the “new” preseason, players have fewer games and less time with which to make an impact, and, in the case of the Red Wings, defenseman Anton Johansson’s made a strong impression. Anton registered an assist on Axel Sandin Pellikka’s 1-1 goal…

Sandin-Pellikka one-timed a pass from Anton Johansson – both young defensemen have impressed in the preseason while battling for likely available roster spots – at 16:11 of the first period for Sandin-Pellikka’s second goal of the preseason (and Johansson’s fifth assist).

“It was awesome,” said Johansson, of setting up Sandin-Pellikka. “He told me right before the faceoff to just get him in his wheelhouse and you get an apple (assist). That’s what happened.”

And Johansson was all smiles after the game, as he told Kulfan:

“I feel good, better every game,” Johansson said. “It was good for me to get those tournament games and get into it before this preseason. It builds confidence (the fine play). You score points and play good and you get confidence.”

It appears players like Johansson and forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygard are two players who have begun to possibly pull away in terms of earning available roster spots.

“Anton, clearly, he’s played real well,” coach Todd McLellan said. “Unfortunately for some others, they’ve played well but haven’t played at Anton’s level. Will it continue? I don’t know. Brandsegg-Nygard has played better than others. There are some things that are recognizable to the group. It’s good news for them and good news for us.”

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen also took note of both Johansson and coach McLellan’s post-game remarks:

In addition to leading Detroit (2-0-1) in scoring, the 6-foot-4 Johansson has been effective defensively and played with his fangs showing. He’s been a physical performer for a team that hopes to be much harder to play against this season.

“Clearly, he’s played real well,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “And unfortunately, for some others that have played well, they haven’t been able to play at Anton’s level at this point.”

The Red Wings will close out their preseason Saturday with a home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“Of course it builds confidence,” Johansson said. “You score points, you get confidence. When you play good, you get confidence. I’m full of confidence right now. It feels good.”

If Anton Johansson earns a spot, he would join Moritz Seider, Simon Edvinsson (when he re-signs), Ben Chiarot, Justin Faulk and Albert Johansson (no relation) who are considered locks.

“(Anton’s) been great.” teammate Alex DeBrincat said. “He gets pucks through from the point and helps us forwards to know what’s going there and to get to the net. Obviously, he’s been getting to his points and stuff like that, but there’s so much more to his game. He’s defending well, moving the puck well.”

As Allen points out, if Anton Johansson earns a spot, all of Jacob Bernard-Docker, William Wallinder and ASP would be battling for a one or two spots on defense, depending on whether the Wings carry 7 or 8 defensemen in Detroit.

The forward picture is equally complicated, with Carter Mazur, Nate Danielson and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard battling against players like Michael Rasmussen and Mason Appleton for playing time, but coach McLellan would rather have the complication at hand than no competition at all:

“If there are 23 spots that can be filed, there are probably 19 or 20 that are spoken for,” McLellan said. “There’s probably four, five or six guys who are competing for a couple of spots. That’s where we are at.”

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Max Smith pointed out, McLellan is less concerned about the penalties that the Red Wings might accumulate while playing with a harder, sharper edge to their individual and collective games.

Does he mind the Wings’ lack of discipline at times? Sure…

“We took a couple of lazy penalties today that we have to clean up.” Head coach Todd McLellan said. “We get to the regular season, we see the real power plays. We’ll get punished for that.”

The Red Wings have lost a lot of their offensive prowess in the offseason, and putting the defense on their back heels isn’t the way to help fix that problem. On the flip side, adding some sandpaper to the lineup and having your best players lead by example with it by dropping the gloves at the right time and place isn’t a problem at all in McLellan’s eyes.

“I thought that showed leadership. Sometimes that triggers a guy to really get ready for the season.” McLellan said.

McLellan came into the this training camp preaching for his team to play harder, heavier, and faster in order to become a more difficult, or as he puts it, abrasive team. So far, despite the shortened schedule, the results of that coaching have been showing on ice.

“We[‘ve] got to come in with intensity and be ready to play because you only get two games… Obviously it got a little fesity out there, but, you know, that’s good for us.” DeBrincat said.

Playing with an edge is one thing, but McLellan knows that there’s a stark difference between playing hard and playing smart. Certainly Detroit’s intensity has ramped up, out-hitting their opponents tonight 18-14. That kind of attitude has to trickle down not only from the coach, but the top of the roster.

“Mo [Seider] finished heavy today and took a penalty. That’s part of being abrasive and hard.” McLellan said. “We’ll have to live with some of that if we’re going to grow our team that way.”

DeBrincat agreed with his coach, as he told DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills…

“One of the first things Todd (McLellan) said was that it was going to be a different Camp,” said Alex DeBrincat, who scored the game-winning goal just 33 seconds into the extra frame. “We got to come in with intensity and be ready to play, because you only get two games. That was something we tried to do out there. It got a little feisty out there, but it’s good for us. I think the more real it is, the better we’re going to be right from Opening Night.”

Who noted that coach McLellan was relatively satisfied with the sharp netminding of Daniil Tarasov, who stopped 17 of 19 shots…

“(Tarasov) would like to have the squeaker that got through on him probably back, but it was a 2-on-1,” McLellan said. “First goal, there was a lot of ping pong going on and I think he was the last guy to poke the puck away. So, some events that happened with him involved were odd in some way, but yet he made some pretty good saves. He had to fight through traffic. He’s a big man. We feel comfortable. He’s got to learn a little bit more about how we play with our hand-offs to defensemen, handling the puck and stuff like that. He’s been around us now for eight days. He’s been doing a good job.”

And, as for the rest of it:

“It’s an intense game,” DeBrincat said. “(Kuntar) had done some stuff earlier in the game too and in the pile, he came in hard. I just saw red, I guess. Probably shouldn’t be fighting, but it is what it is. It’s an intense game out there. We got to play hard and do what we need to do.”

On the power play to begin overtime, Moritz Seider connected with Lucas Raymond, who found DeBrincat across the ice in the left face-off circle for a one-timer that beat Ellis.

“Overall, we didn’t give up too much and we had a lot of chances,” DeBrincat said. “I think it’s something we can build on for sure and go into the next game even better.”

One more thing: Coach McLellan also said this to Mills about the Red Wings’ offensive machine, or the lack thereof, without Patrick Kane, James van Riemsdyk and David Perron, who all exited the Wings as free agents:

“It’s going to be by committee. We signed Viktor Arvidsson. Viktor’s a 20-plus goal scorer, but that alone doesn’t make up for everything that left. We need some internal increases from our veteran players that have been around.”

Something to look forward to the Wings “growing into” as the team hosts Columbus in what will be a dress rehearsal for next week’s home opener vs. the Rangers.

Saturday night’s game between Detroit and the Blue Jackets (7 PM EDT start on Detroit SportsNet/WWJ 950) will be worth the wait, I think.

Multimedia:

Highlights: Sportsnet posted a 10:05 highlight clip: