At the Horn | Red Wings 7 - Sabres 3

The Buffalo Sabres fell 7-3 to the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday.

Josh Norris scored his first goal as a member of the Sabres in the loss. Tage Thompson had a goal and an assist, as did Zach Benson – the latter of whom was promoted to the top line alongside Norris and Thompson in the absence of JJ Peterka (lower body). Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 22 saves.

Patrick Kane led the way for Detroit with five points (3+2). Alex DeBrincat (1+3), Marco Kasper (2+1), and Lucas Raymond (0+2) also had multi-point nights while Vladimir Tarasenko and Moritz Seider added goals. Petr Mrazek made 23 saves to earn the win in his first game back with the Red Wings after being acquired at the trade deadline.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Period

The Sabres emerged from a high-scoring first period trailing 3-2, capped by a late goal from Norris.

Detroit appeared to open the scoring less than four minutes into the game on a shot from DeBrincat, but the play was ruled goaltender interference on the ice. Instead, Thompson put Buffalo on the board with a shot from the high slot at 7:38.

The Red Wings answered with a run of three goals in a span of 6:31 to take a 3-1 lead. Kane factored in on all three goals, beginning when he carried the puck along the right wall and passed to the slot for Simon Edvinsson, whose shot was deflected by Kasper.

Kane earned the primary assist on the go-ahead goal with a short breakout pass to DeBrincat, who sped up the left side of the ice before cutting to the slot and burying a shot to Luukkonen’s blocker side. Kane then scored Detroit’s third goal on the power play with 52.3 seconds remaining in the period.

Norris responded quickly for the Sabres, cutting the deficit back to one with 34.3 seconds remaining. Thompson initiated the play by keeping the puck in at the blue line and sending it behind the net to Benson, who made a quick feed to Norris in front.

Second Period

Luukkonen made a pair of high-danger stops in the opening four minutes of the period: a breakaway save on Dominik Shine and a sprawling shoulder save to rob Lucas Raymond from the left side of the net.

Detroit finally managed to extend its lead at 10:54. Tarasenko wheeled behind the Buffalo net and carried the puck wide to the right half wall, where he unleashed a shot that banked in off the far post. The Sabres challenged unsuccessfully for goaltender interference.

Special teams dictated the final minutes of the period. A double-minor penalty against DeBrincat paved the way for Benson’s power-play goal, which cut the Detroit lead to 4-3 with 1:48 remaining.

A pair of quick penalties against the Sabres (for delay of game and tripping) set up the Red Wings with a lengthy 5-on-3 power play, which carried over into the beginning of the third.

Third Period

The Sabres killed off the 5-on-3 portion of the Red Wings’ power play to open the period, but the Red Wings tacked onto their lead with 19 seconds remaining at 5-on-4. DeBrincat set up the goal with a pass across to Kane, who missed his initial attempt on the outside of the net but buried his own rebound.

Kane’s fifth point of the night helped set up Kasper’s second goal, which extended the Red Wings’ lead to 6-3 with 14:21 remaining. DeBrincat forced a turnover in the corner to Kane, who quickly returned the puck. DeBrincat then centered a pass to set up Kasper’s one-timer.

Extra-curriculars took over for the final eight minutes of the game, beginning when Alex Tuch fought Michael Rasmussen in retaliation for a hit by Rasmussen on Jacob Bryson.

Jordan Greenway later delivered a hard hit on Justin Holl, then got tied up with J.T. Compher – resulting in game misconducts for both Greenway and Compher.

Seider added a 4-on-3 power-play goal with 5:29 remaining. Roughly two minutes later, a confrontation between Norris and Edvinsson spurred Thompson to drop the gloves in defense of his new linemate, spurring a brawl that also saw Byram fight Shine and resulted in game misconducts for all 10 players on the ice: Thompson, Byram, Norris, Benson, and Mattias Samuelsson for the Sabres along with Edvinsson, Shine, Kasper, Ben Chiarot, and Albert Johanssen for the Red Wings.

PHOTO GALLERY

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

UP NEXT

The Sabres return home to host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon. The team will host a St. Patrick's Day Celebration throughout the game, including food specials and giveaways. Find more information on the day here.

Coverage on MSG begins at 12 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 12:30.