Quinn gets 3 points, Sabres end Red Wings’ 5-game winning streak

BUFFALO -- Jack Quinn had a goal and two assists for the Buffalo Sabres, who ended the Detroit Red Wings’ five-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.

“I think when Jack has ice, you know he’s going to make a play,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “When Jack gets to the middle of the ice, you know we’re going to see a real good play. But he is skating better right now than probably all of last year.”

Colten Ellis made 29 saves in his NHL debut for the Sabres (3-4-0), who have won three of four. Jason Zucker and Alex Tuch also scored, and Ryan McLeod had two assists.

Buffalo acquired Ellis, a third-round pick (No. 93) by the St. Louis Blues in the 2019 NHL Draft, off waivers from the Blues on Oct. 6.

“It’s huge for me, but it’s also huge for everybody in my family,” the 25-year-old said. “They’ve made so many sacrifices to help me get to this moment. And there’s so many supporters, too many to name. It’s been crazy, the support I’ve had since I was young, that played instrumental roles and helped me get to where I am. So, just looking forward to share this moment. It’s not only my moment -- it’s all theirs as well.”

J.T. Compher and Emmitt Finnie scored for the Red Wings (5-2-0), who lost for the first time since their season opener against the Montreal Canadiens, 5-1, on Oct. 9. John Gibson made 27 saves.

“I didn’t think we got to our game real quick,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re short-handed 30 seconds into the game, get through that kill and all of a sudden we’re back in the box again. … It’s hard to get into any type of rhythm. We somewhat wasted the first period. Based on that outcome, I didn’t think we were prepared for the pace that the game was played at, and a lot of times we’ve been dictating the pace.”

The Sabres outshot the Red Wings 8-0 through the first half of the first period. Detroit didn’t record its first shot on goal until the 10:16 mark.

“I thought, as a team, we really skated well tonight,” Ruff said. “It’s the first game since camp, the start of camp, I’ve liked the way we’ve come out in the first period.”

Compher gave Detroit a 1-0 lead at 3:00 of the second period. Albert Johansson put a shot on net from the left circle, drawing Ellis over, and Compher was in front to collect the puck and push it into the net.

Zucker tied it 1-1 at 11:37 when he took a pass from Quinn at the top of the crease on a 2-on-1 rush and scored on Gibson stick side.

Tyson Kozak gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead at 16:28. Quinn cut to the slot from the right side before sending a short pass to Kozak in front, where he slid it through Gibson’s pads.

Finnie tied it 2-2 at 18:20 after Dylan Larkin sent him a backhand feed from below the right circle for the quick tap-in.

“In the second, we started to make some plays coming out of our end. We’re there, we worked our way back into the game,” McLellan said. “But 10 minutes of penalty kill (in the game) isn’t going to cut it either. Eventually teams are going to score on the power play, it doesn’t matter how good your penalty kill has been.”

Quinn put the Sabres back ahead 3-2 on the power play at 4:15 of the third period when he one-timed a pass from McLeod from above the slot.

Ellis preserved the lead at 7:10 by getting his arm up to deflect a shot from Alex DeBrincat from low in the left circle.

A minute later, Tuch extended it to 4-2 at 8:10, deflecting Josh Doan's one-timer from the top of the left circle.

“The start’s not good enough,” Compher said. “Any time you take two penalties in the first four minutes of the game, it’s going to give the other team a lot of confidence and they get playing their game before we even get most of our guys on the ice. I think that kind of snowballed in the first. We weren’t playing our game. Kind of got to parts of it throughout but not for enough tonight.”

NOTES: Ellis is the ninth goalie in Sabres history to win his NHL debut and is the eighth Nova Scotia-born goaltender in NHL history. … Finnie has six points (three goals, three assists) in his first seven NHL games, becoming the first Red Wings player with as many points through their first seven career games since Lucas Raymond (eight) and Moritz Seider (six points) each did so in 2021-22. … Larkin had an assist to extend his season-opening point streak to seven games (five goals, seven assists). … Zucker left the game at 14:22 of the second period with an upper-body injury. Ruff said postgame the forward was being evaluated.