The injury and flu-ridden Buffalo Sabres went into Tuesday’s matchup with the Detroit Red Wings losers of its last three games. With no Tyler Myers, Matt Moulson, Brian Gionta, Marcus Foligno and company, the Sabres were no match for the Red Wings as the team squanders a 3-1 lead to fall 6-3 from the Joe Louis Arena.
The bad spell for the Sabres on Tuesday was its woes on the penalty kill. The Sabres went 2-6 on the penalty kill, giving up four powerplay goals on the night and three in the third period alone. Michal Neuvirth was peppered with shots all throughout the night, as the Sabres gave up 39 shots to Detroit to its own 16 shots.
Nicolas Deslauriers got the Sabres on the board just 2:36 into the first period off of a feed from Drew Stafford in front of Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek. After Detroit tied the game on a Stephen Weiss powerplay goal, Chris Stewart buried a two-on-one chance with Cody Hodgson to give Buffalo the lead again heading into the first intermission.
Sabres defenseman Andre Benoit gave Buffalo a 3-1 lead just nine minutes into the second period with a shorthanded goal. Danny DeKeyser brought the game to within one goal right before the second intermission.
Just over four minutes into the third period, Henrik Zetterberg opens the flood gates for the Red Wings to tie the game 3-3. From there, three straight powerplay goals, one from Johan Franzen and two from Tomas Tatar, put the game out of hand for the Sabres.
With all the injuries and sicknesses, Sabres forward Joel Armia made his NHL debut on Tuesday in Detroit. On the night Armia played less than 15-minutes with four hits and no shots on a line with Tyler Ennis and Zemgus Girgensons.
For the Sabres, the team will have three days off for the holidays before getting back to action on Saturday night with a home game against the New York Islanders. Opening face-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the game can be seen on MSG Network.