Evander Kane had his second multi-goal effort of the season and the Buffalo Sabres held on to win, 4-3, against the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night at the Joe Louis Arena.
One a night when most of the members of the Red Wings 1997 Stanley Cup champion team were honored, it was the Sabres that cleared the last hurdle.
Kane scored the final goal of the contest on a 3-on-2 break. Johan Larsson drove the net to take away a defenseman and Gionta found Kane with a saucer pass from the right to left wing. Red Wings’ goaltender Petr Mrazek caught a piece of Kane’s shot, but the puck still managed to trickle past him into the net to give Buffalo its final lead of the night.
The Sabres jumped out to an early lead, scoring twice in the opening 20 minutes. It was the first time in the last eight games that the Sabres notched the first goal of the game.
Kane opened the scoring with a great individual effort. His initial wraparound attempt was stuffed, but the 25-year-old found his own rebound to put behind Mrazek. Kane has seven goals in his last 10 games.
Sam Reinhart got the second score of the game with just over four minutes to play in the opening stanza. The power play appeared rushed and Jack Eichel’s drop pass to Ristolainen looked like it could be a little short for the 6’4” defenseman. Instead, Ristolainen sprinted forward to get a shot on the loose puck and Reinhart deflected it in front of Mrazek to make it 2-0 Buffalo.
Action was slow in the middle frame until all three goals were scored in a 90 second span. Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg bounced a bad angle shot in off of the mask of Lehner with 5:14 to play in the period.
Jack Eichel answered 22 seconds later with his 6th goal of the season. He skated quickly up left wing and made a nice deke to get the puck on his forehand, which he flipped up and over Mrazek’s short-side shoulder.
Less than a minute later the Sabres lead returned to just a single goal as Drew Miller put himself on the scoresheet. The Buffalo defense did a poor job of forcing Dylan Larkin to make a play with the puck, instead just letting him skate around the offensive zone. Larkin put one on net that got deflected, but ended up on Miller’s stick and in the back of the net.
Robin Lehner finished the game with 40 saves, maybe none more impressive than one of his first stops of the game. Former Sabre Thomas Vanek found himself alone in front, but Lehner made the back-to-back save combination on Vanek’s two forehand attempts.
Lehner got caught with a stick to the throat late in the game. The stick belonged to teammate Zach Bogosian, but the referee blew the play dead once Lehner went down. Luckily for Buffalo, the puck crossed the goal line after the whistle was blown.
Vanek got his revenge on Lehner to tie the game early in the 3rd period. Justin Falk’s attempt to clear the puck on the penalty kill was unsuccessful and the puck ended up at Vanek’s skates in front of the net. His bullet of a wrister tied the game at three for nearly two minutes before Kane put in the game-winner for Buffalo.
Next up for Buffalo is a home and home set with the Boston Bruins. The Sabres get to play host first, 7 pm on Thursday night at KeyBank Center.