Dylan Cozens had two goals and an assist and the visiting Buffalo Sabres recovered from the Detroit Red Wings’ two third-period goals for a 7-6 shootout win on Thursday.
A tiebreaker was needed after Detroit’s Jonatan Berggren connected on the doorstep at 8:02 of the third period to cut it to 6-5, and David Perron scored from the left circle with one minute left, with goalie Ville Husso pulled for the extra attacker.
Tage Thompson and Henri Jokiharju each had a goal and assist, Owen Power had three assists and Casey Mittelstadt had two assists for the Sabres (38-32-7, 83 points). Devon Levi made 26 saves.
Berggren and Dylan Larkin each had a goal and an assist, Lucas Raymond had three assists, Moritz Seider had two assists, and Husso made 30 saves for the Red Wings (35-33-10, 80 points).
Thompson took a pass from Cozens at the top of the left circle and wired his 45th of the season, giving the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 4:35.
Austin Czarnik tied it 1-1 at 10:38 on a shot from the left face-off dot that hit the blade of Buffalo forward Alex Tuch’s stick to beat Levi high short side.
Larkin put the Red Wings ahead 2-1 on the power play at 15:05. Raymond sent a pass from the top of the right circle through a seam to Larkin in the slot for a redirect that hit the stick of Buffalo defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin on its way into the net.
Jokiharju tied it 2-2 at 17:10. Husso stopped Mittelstadt’s shot but Tuch picked up the rebound and quickly fed the defenseman for a one-timer from the right inner hashmarks.
Cozens connected from the right circle on the power play to make it 3-2 Sabres with 52 seconds left in the opening frame.
Zemgus Girgensons redirected a pass from Kyle Okposo to push it to 4-2 at 1:33 of the second period.
Alex Chiasson narrowed it to 4-3 with a power-play goal at 16:04, taking a backhand pass from Larkin for a tap-in. Simon Edvinsson’s shot from above the left circle went in off Sabres defenseman Owen Power to tie it 4-4 at 16:52.
Jordan Greenway took a backhand pass from Mittelstadt in the left circle to put Buffalo back in front at 3:20 of the third period, and Cozens made it 6-4, scoring five-hole on a partial breakaway at 4:32.
In the shootout, Jack Quinn and Tuch scored on Buffalo’s second and third shots, and Raymond netted one for Detroit in three attempts.
–Field Level Media
