In Buffalo, Dylan Larkin’s second goal of the game came with 46 seconds left on the third period game clock to stop a Sabres rally and give the Detroit Red Wings a 5-3 win on Tuesday night.
“[Detroit coach Derek Lalonde] talks about it a lot, quiet confidence,” said Larkin. “When things go a little sideways, we’ve got a good foundation of character and guys that can kind of calm it down. It’s just a good feeling. Winning’s contagious and when you start to feel good, you get used to those situations. Yeah, it was a little closer than we wanted, but two points is two points in this league.”
Alex Lyon made 29 saves in the win.
The Red Wings improved to 14-7-3.
Larkin scored his first of the game at 3:40 of the first stanza for a 1-0 lead to Detroit.
Robby Fabbri pushed the advantage to 2-0 at 8:25.
“I think he’s just doing some quality things around the whole ice to get himself in those positions and obviously, he’s cashing in right now,” Lalonde said.
In the middle frame, Moritz Seider stretched the lead to 3-0 off the the power play at 5:43.
Michael Rasmussen went five hole off a breakaway at 13:55 of the second to balloon the lead for Detroit at 4-0.
Buffalo finally got on the board with 63 seconds left in the second on a marker from Rasmus Dahlin.
In the third period, the Sabres rallied to close the deficit to 4-3 on two strikes.
“Clock moving and their back was to the wall, and their mentality changed, obviously,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “The puck pressure, systematically, way better at pressuring pucks. Way more aggressive and assertive, handing off the pressure, supporting the next guy to pressure and more confidence with the puck. … Listen, you’re going to be vulnerable when you’re aggressive, you’re going to give stuff up. You’ve got to be comfortable with that. And when you’re not as successful as you want to be, you start fearing a mistake and you’re making the same mistake not being aggressive, and that’s the worst. That was the early part of the game.”
Casey Mittelstadt trimmed the deficit to 4-2 at 8:20 of the third before Jeff Skinner got the Sabres within one at 4-3.
“The start was huge,” Larkin said. “I think the next step for us is just continuing that. When we get up 4-0, we can’t allow goals late in periods and we’ve done that two games in a row. We have to keep our foot on the gas or play a more simple game and continue to play offense. You can’t defend for 20 or 40 minutes in this league, teams are too good, they get feeling too good.”
The Sabres dropped to 10-14-2 off their fourth straight loss.
“We’re professional athletes, this is what we do,” Buffalo’s Kyle Okposo said. “You’ve got to be able to give it up every game, regardless of what’s going on. I’ve been through streaks in the past where they look like there’s no end in sight, and this isn’t one of those. That’s not where we’re at. Today, I didn’t like our game at all.”
Eric Comrie made 22 saves in the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.