Sabres rue penalties, puck management in loss to Red Wings

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

Addressing the media pregame, head coach Lindy Ruff pointed to puck management as the key to solving Buffalo’s recent road woes. But shortcomings in that area spelled trouble for the Sabres against a Red Wings team desperate to snap its six-game losing streak.

Penalty trouble sunk the Sabres as well; Detroit, which entered the night with the league’s third-best power play, went 3-for-6 on its man-up opportunities.

“Some of the D-zone turnovers – it’s hard to recover from a couple of the plays we made,” Ruff said postgame. “Frustrating, for sure.”

“Dangerous group, and I think they’re very opportunistic,” said Tage Thompson. “They don’t need a whole lot to put it in the back of the net, and I think that’s what happened. I think we had a couple breakdowns defensively where they had some pretty clean looks, and they capitalized on them. That happens on top of the power-play goals – that’s a tough hill to climb.”

Seven goals allowed matches a season high for the Sabres. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed that total while facing 29 shots, but the frequency of shorthanded situations and puck management issues contributed to a challenging night for Buffalo’s netminder.

“We can’t leave Upie out to dry like that,” said Josh Norris, who scored his first goal – in his third game – with the Sabres. “He’s played really good and I feel bad for him. It’s not on Upie.”

Buffalo trailed 3-2 after a rollercoaster of an opening period. Detroit’s Alex DeBrincat appeared to open the scoring three minutes in, but the officials waved it off for goalie interference; Michael Rasmussen had set up in the crease and impeded Luukkonen’s lateral movement toward the shooter.

And four minutes later at 7:38, Thompson scorched a top-corner shot past Petr Mrazek to give the Sabres 1-0 lead. Thompson’s 34th goal of the season gives him sole possession of fourth on the NHL leaderboard.

The Red Wings responded with three goals – by Marco Kasper, DeBrincat and Patrick Kane – and led 3-1 in the final minute. But 18 seconds after Kane’s power-play tally, Norris got open in the slot and chipped Zach Benson’s net-front feed past Mrazek.

“Good play by Benny,” Norris said. “Thought he made a couple really good plays tonight. And good job by Tommer keeping it in. You never forget your first, so it was nice to get it out of the way.”

Vladimir Tarasenko restored Detroit’s two-goal lead midway through the second. The Sabres challenged for goalie interference this time but were unsuccessful; they did kill off the resulting delay-of-game minor, though.

Late in the period, Peyton Krebs drew a high-sticking double minor while driving to the net, and Buffalo cashed in on the second leg of the power play. Benson, occupying the bumper position, reeled in the rebound from an Owen Power one-timer and scored to make it a 4-3 game.

A 1:18 stretch of 5-on-3 for the Red Wings spilled over into the third period. Buffalo survived the first penalty before surrendering a 5-on-4 goal to Kane, who re-extended Detroit's lead to 5-3 and finished the night with five points (2+3).

"We got the kill on the 5-on-3 and (Jason Zucker) came out of the box," Ruff said. "Zuck, I think, went out of position and is a non-penalty killer. And that was a big goal at the time. And then I think our discipline just unraveled."

Kasper scored his second of the night early in the third period and Moritz Seider added one late en route to the 7-3 final.

"You can’t take nights off and you can’t get away from the way everyone needs to play," Norris said in regards to Buffalo's team defense. "You all need to be on the same page, and you can’t give teams chances, especially high-end teams. We’re going to have to look at some video, but at the end of the day, it’s just about compete, and playing the right way."

Here’s more from the loss.

1. Tension boiled over late in the third period. Alex Tuch fought Rasmussen after the 6-foot-6 forward crunched 5-foot-9 Jacob Bryson against the boards – a hit with considerable head contact. Rasmussen just received a five-minute major for the fight; nothing extra for the hit.

“A lot of emotion, and I think a lot of frustration; stuff built up throughout the game, and I think just kind of a tipping point there,” Thompson said. “… Brys gets hit there – I don’t think anyone on the team really thought that was a clean hit, you catch him in a vulnerable spot. I think we responded the right way.”

“I think there was a few calls out there that we could’ve got,” Ruff added, echoing his team’s dissatisfaction with the officiating. “I think that some frustration settled in. I love what Alex did. I think that (when) you get in a game like that, the emotion is good.”

Moments later, Jordan Greenway got tangled up with J.T. Compher and a minor tussle ensued; both forwards received game misconduct penalties and returned to their locker rooms.

And the biggest yard sale of the night followed with three minutes remaining. Thompson got into it with Simon Edvinsson, Bowen Byram fought Dominik Shine and the rest of the skaters found an opponent to grab onto.

The Sabres totaled 83 penalty minutes, their most in a game since 2002.

Wednesday concluded these teams’ four-game season series, so any resumption of this game’s extracurriculars won’t take place until the fall. Buffalo went 1-2-1 against the division-rival Red Wings.

2. JJ Peterka was scratched due to a lower-body injury. Pregame, Ruff estimated the forward, who’s already set a career high with 51 points (19+32) this season, could be out “a game or two.”

Jiri Kulich, meanwhile, re-entered the lineup after missing two games with an illness and skated 11:31, primarily as the center between Greenway and Jack Quinn.

3. In Peterka’s absence, Benson elevated to the top line with Thompson and Norris. The 19-year-old tallied the power-play goal and a primary assist in 16:23 of ice time. And during that trio’s 10:21 of 5-on-5 ice time, the Sabres led 14-7 in shot attempts, 5-2 in shots and 1-0 in goals, per Natural Stat Trick.

“Made some good plays down low and some good plays going through the neutral zone,” Ruff said of Benson, adding that Greenway (illness), Kulich (illness) and Zucker (lower body), other candidates for a first-line promotion, “still aren’t up to speed” after recent absences.

“Thought the best would be to put Benson up there, and I thought he gave us a heck of a game.”

“I love the way he plays – tenacious on pucks, wins battles,” Thompson added. “He’s a little bit of a rat on the ice and creates time and space for guys away from him. He’s got a lot of skill, too; finds those little plays and, yeah, I like playing with him.”

Up next

The Sabres return home for a Saturday matinee against the Vegas Golden Knights; it's also KeyBank Center's St. Patrick's Day Celebration. Tickets are available here.

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