In Buffalo, Dylan Larkin struck for goals in regulation and potted a marker in the skills competition as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Sabres on Thursday night, 4-3.
“It feels good,” Larkin said. “We had a good start, good first two periods, and then I think we just let our foot off the gas there a little bit in the third. … Wish we made it a little bit easier for us tonight and little easier on [Jonathan Bernier] there, but we stuck it out, 
played good defensively in overtime, and won it in a shootout. Two points is two points right now for us.”
Detroit nearly had a regulation win until Evan Rodrigues tied the game to force extra time for the Sabres and avoid the embarrassment of lsoi
“We definitely cannot be pleased with losing in [a shootout] here today,” Buffalo coach Ralph Krueger said. “The storyline was against the opportunities that we had; we had a lot of opportunities in the first two periods where we were unable to finish. … It’s the failed opportunities, the grit we need to finish on those opportunities, that is definitely the reason for this loss today.
“It was a good reaction in the third coming back from two down, it was a good reaction to score 6-on-5 to bring it into overtime under the circumstances, but we shouldn’t have been in those circumstances.”
Bernier made 29 saves in the win.
“Just to come in the room and see smiles and listen to some music. … We’ve got a guy playing his first game tonight (defenseman Gustav Lindstrom) and I thought he did really well, and [Bernier’s] been so big for us lately and he played another solid game, made the saves he had to and kept us in it, really,” Larking. ” Just a total team win, everyone feels good right now. We’ve got to keep that going.”
Jimmy Vesey and Scott Wilson also scored for the Sabres.
“We waited too long to turn it on,” Rodrigues said. “We fought our way back, unfortunately don’t get the two points, but we had chances.”
Tyler Bertuzzi also scored for the Red Wings.
“If you never get rewarded, it’s hard to keep your confidence,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “It’s hard to believe in what you’re doing, it’s hard to do those things. It’s really important to be able to get rewarded. That’s one of the hardest challenges we’ve had this year. Even when we’ve done things right, we haven’t gotten rewarded.
“We weren’t perfect tonight, we’ve got lots to work on, lots to get better at, but I thought the effort level was great. It was good to get rewarded for a fairly good process.”
[WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Sabres highlights]
Jonas Johansson made 18 saves in the loss; it was his first NHL start.
“It’s never easy,” Sam Reinhart said. “We didn’t do our job that we set out to do when we woke up this morning, so it’s disappointing.”
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