Detroit, Mich. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Detroit Red Wings probably wish they could play the Buffalo Sabres 10 times per-season.
Buffalo has had a habit of helping teams out of losing streaks, and they’ve done it for Detroit twice this season.
In December, the Red Wings came to Buffalo with a five-game losing streak and was trailing the Sabres, 5-3, midway through the third period. They ended up leaving that game with a 6-5 shootout win.
Fast forward three months to Wednesday night in Detroit, the Sabres came to town with the Red Wings on a six-game losing streak, where they scored 11 goals.
What happened next was Detroit putting up seven goals on Buffalo, in part because the Sabres made their nightly pilgrimage to the penalty box, which allowed the NHL’s third-best power play to go 3-for-5.
Buffalo’s own Pat Kane is 36-years-old, but he had two goals and three assists for five points, and looked like an 18-year-old again.
In 32 career games against his hometown team, Kane has scored 16 goals and added 20 assists for 36 points.
I’m sure Kane is breathing a sigh of relief he chose the Red Wings over the Sabres before the 2023-24 season when he was a free agent.
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Tage Thompson gave Buffalo the lead after Bo Byram did a nice job of leading the attack. It was his 34th goal of the season, which has him two behind Will Nylander for second in the NHL.
It didn’t take long for the Red Wings to score three quick goals, two of which the Sabres needed a save from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, to make it 3-1.
But to Buffalo's credit, just 18 seconds after Kane gave his team the two-goal lead, Josh Norris took a pass from Zach Benson and steered home his first goal as a member of the Sabres. The play came about after Thompson made the Wings turn the puck over along the wall.
Buffalo was still only down a goal to start the third, but the Red Wings rolled up three goals to win easily.
In the period, Michael Rasmussen smashed Jacob Bryson’s head into the wall, knocking his helmet off and knocking him out of the game. It was a dirty hit, and Alex Tuch took exception and challenged Rasmussen.
It was good to see, but what has happened to Connor Clifton?
He was brought in from the Boston Bruins to bring toughness and grit to the defense, which he did in his first season with the team last year. However, he’s never involved anymore.
Why is it that a 25-goal scorer has to step in? That has to be Clifton 100 times out of 100, but he didn’t.
After that, it was on.
One thing I did like about the Sabres in this game is, with the exception of a player or two, they were in it together. They went after the Wings, and guys like Tuch, Thompson, Benson and Byram didn’t back down.
This was just another game after a really good win over the Edmonton Oilers where the Sabres didn’t get goaltending, they took too many penalties, and their puck management was horrendous.
They are the third-worst team in the NHL for a reason.