RECAP: Detroit's five-game winning streak ends with 4-2 loss in Buffalo

BUFFALO – Falling short for the first time since Opening Night nearly two weeks ago, the Detroit Red Wings saw their five-game winning streak come to an end with a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Wednesday night.

Goalie John Gibson, making his third straight start, finished with 27 saves for Detroit (5-2-0; 10 points). Earning the win for Buffalo (3-4-0; 6 points) in his NHL debut was goaltender Colten Ellis, who also made 27 saves.

“I don’t think we were prepared for the pace that the game was played at,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “A lot of times, we’ve been dictating the pace.”

Neither Atlantic Division squad found the back of the net in the first period, which saw Detroit’s penalty killers snuff out two consecutive Buffalo power plays before the game’s six-minute mark.

“The start wasn’t good enough,” J.T. Compher said. “Anytime you take two penalties in the first 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.”

Three minutes into the second period, Compher lit the lamp first for the Red Wings by cleaning up a rebound created by Albert Johansson’s shot from the edge of the left face-off circle to give them a 1-0 lead. Jonatan Berggren earned the secondary assist on Compher’s first goal of the season.

The Sabres’ offense showed up later in the second period, first when Jason Zucker finished a cross-crease pass from Jack Quinn on a 2-on-1 rush to make it 1-1 at 11:37. Then, they jumped out in front on Tyson Kozak’s goal, which he scored after crashing to the net, to make it 2-1 at 16:28.

Continuing to impress as a 20-year-old rookie, Emmitt Finnie one-timed a backhand feed from Detroit captain Dylan Larkin past Ellis to tie it 2-2 at 18:20 of the second period. With the primary helper on Finnie’s third goal in the past two games, Larkin extended his season-opening point streak to seven consecutive games and Lucas Raymond’s secondary helper pushed his point streak to three straight.

“Larks made a good play,” said Finnie, who became the first Red Wings player to record at least six points through his first seven NHL contests since Raymond and Moritz Seider both did so in the 2021-22 season. “He was driving wide, and I just found some quiet ice and he made a nice pass.”

For Larkin, this marks the second-longest campaign-opening point streak of his NHL career behind an eight-game run he had in 2023-24 (4-11-15 in 8 GP).

Buffalo retook the lead when Quinn notched his third point of the night with a power-play goal to make it 3-2 at 4:15 of the third period.

“Eventually, teams are going to score on the power play,” McLellan said. “It doesn’t matter how good your penalty kill has been. They’re going to find a hole and shoot it into the net. That was the decider.”

Josh Doan gave the Sabres a two-goal cushion nearly four minutes later, sneaking a slap shot through Gibson from the left face-off circle with 11:50 remaining in regulation for what stood as the 4-2 final.

“A couple breaks here and there, and it goes in our net,” Alex DeBrincat said. “We got to be better for a full 60. It’s a good thing we have a game tomorrow. We can rebound and come out better.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will take on the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Thursday night.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on the first period

“I don’t think we got to our game real quick. Obviously, we’re shorthanded 30 seconds into the game. Get through that kill, then all of a sudden, we’re back in the box again…I thought we somewhat wasted the first period based on that outcome.”

Compher on if Wednesday’s loss served as a reminder on the importance of consistency

“Todd has been preaching that ever since we started last year and during Training Camp this year. It’s got to be every game. When you give away periods or parts of periods in this League, it’s really hard to win.”

DeBrincat on how the start impacted the rest of the game

“Honestly, I think we could have gotten some momentum off that -- killing some penalties early. Obviously, it’s hard for some guys to find their legs, but I think you get the momentum from the kills. We all should have been ready, and we weren’t necessarily ready in the first period. Took us a bit to get our legs going. It’s on us. We got to be ready to play.”