J.T. Compher and Emmitt Finnie scored Detroit’s goals in 4-2 loss against Sabres on Wednesday.
J.T. Compher and Emmitt Finnie scored Detroit’s goals in 4-2 loss against Sabres on Wednesday.
Buffalo — Hold off on those Red Wings’ Stanley Cup parade routes for a just a bit.
There’s been a rare bump in the road during this early-season surge.
Buffalo’s Jack Quinn (power play) and Josh Doan scored almost four minutes apart in the third period Wednesday, sending the Sabres to a 4-2 victory.
Quinn, who added two assists, one-timed a pass from Ryan McLeod from the top of the slot, giving Buffalo a 3-2 lead at 4:15. Doan extended the lead to 4-2 at 8:10, as McLeod fed Doan inside the circle and Doan’s slapshot got past Wings goaltender John Gibson (27 saves).
Just before Doan’s goal Buffalo goaltender Colten Ellis (27 saves), making his NHL debut, made an acrobatic save on Alex DeBrincat, keeping the Sabres (3-4-0) in the lead.
The start to this game wasn’t exemplary for the Wings. Two penalties (Simon Edvinsson, James van Riemsdyk) in the first three minutes put the Wings’ rhythm off for much of the game.
“We didn’t get into our game real quick,” coach Todd McLellan said. “We were shorthanded 30 seconds into the game and you get the kill, and we’re right back in the box again. It’s hard to get into any kind of rhythm. We somewhat wasted the first period based on that.
“We weren’t prepared for the pace the game was played at and a lot of times we’ve been dictating the pace.”
J.T. Compher (first goal this season) and Emmitt Finnie (third) scored for the Wings.
BOX SCORE: Sabres 4, Red Wings 2
Ellis only had to make five of his 27 saves in the first period, enabling him to settle in, and the rookie was impressive the final 40 minutes with numerous quality saves against some of the Wings’ best offensive players.
“We have to find a way to get more into goalies’ eyes and get pucks through and clean up those rebounds,” said DeBrincat, who was robbed twice by Ellis. “There was a lot of stuff laying there and we didn’t clean up. Playing in his first (NHL) game, we have to get in his eyes a little more and make it hard on him.”
The Wings (5-2-0) saw their five-game win streak come to an end. They’ll finish the back-to-back, two-game road trip Thursday on Long Island against the New York Islanders (7 p.m./FDSN/97.1).
Alex DeBrincat says they “can rebound” against the Islanders on Thursday after Wednesday’s 4-2 loss in Buffalo.
Alex DeBrincat says they “can rebound” against the Islanders on Thursday after Wednesday’s 4-2 loss in Buffalo.
“The start (wasn’t) good enough,” said Compher of Wednesday’s first period. “Anytime you take two penalties in the first four minutes of the game, it’s going to get the other team a lot of confidence. They get playing their game before we even get most of our guys on the ice.”
Finnie’s goal, off a centering pass from Dylan Larkin, tied the game 2-2 at 18:20 of the second period. Larkin skated down wing, got to near the goal line and found Finnie driving alone down the slot and snapped a shot over Ellis.
“Larks made a good play driving wide and I just found some quiet ice,” Finnie said.
Compher opened the game’s scoring early in the second period. Albert Johansson wheeled and put a shot on net, where Compher, alone in front, knocked the puck past Ellis at the three-minute mark.
But the Sabres roared back with two goals the second half of the second period.
Jason Zucker tied it 1-1 at 11:37, converting Quinn’s pass off a 2-on-1 rush. Tyson Kozak gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead at 16:28, again off a Sabres odd-man rush.
The Wings’ penalty killing, so good to begin the season, continued its success killing four of five Buffalo power plays. The Wings went without a goal on two power plays and McLellan wasn’t largely impressed.
“We looked real good doing nothing,” said McLellan, namely about the initial power play late in the first period. “We moved pucks around and looked good, but at some point you have to put pressure on the goaltender. Isn’t that the name of the game? You have to shoot the puck in the net but we wanted to run these plays and roam around and do this crap that led to nothing.
“There has to be some substance on the power play. When ours is doing good and on the six-on-five at the end there was some substance and an attack mentality. We didn’t have that on the first one.”
McLellan made special note of a pair of players, including Jonatan Berggren, who had an assist and “had a good night,” but conversely felt Marco Kasper didn’t play “anywhere near what he’s capable of playing, and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
@tkulfan
