Red Wings start fast, defeat Sabres to move into playoff position

DETROIT -- Lucas Raymond had a goal and an assist for the Detroit Red Wings in a 3-1 victory against the Buffalo Sabres at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday.

"That wasn't our best game, but we came out with a huge win," Raymond said.

Dylan Larkin and Patrick Kane also scored, and Alex Lyon made 37 saves for Detroit (38-31-8), which was 1-3-2 in its previous six games.

The Red Wings led 3-0 just eight minutes into the game.

"Finding a way to close out games like that is difficult, especially against a team like that," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "I thought [Lyon] was our best player in the third period (17 saves). That team had some really good looks that he kept out of the net."

The Red Wings moved into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers. 

Tage Thompson scored for Buffalo (37-36-5), which had won two in a row. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 21 saves.

"You see a lot of games where you put that many pucks on the net and a bunch bounce in for you," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "There were a lot of pucks that the goaltender never saw and hit him. We had chances, but we needed one to go in."

Buffalo is five points behind Detroit for the second wild card and has played one more game. The Sabres have won more than two games in a row just twice this season.

"If you can't win more than three games in a row, you probably aren't going to make the playoffs," Buffalo forward Alex Tuch said.

Raymond gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead 53 seconds into the game, beating Luukkonen from the high slot.

"We've struggled with our starts the last couple weeks," Raymond said. "That makes it even better to come out and get the kind of start we did."

Kane made it 2-0 at 4:24, splitting the Buffalo defense before tucking the puck inside the left post.

Larkin pushed it to 3-0 with a power-play goal at 7:37.

"I think what this team got out of its system is getting Dylan Larkin back," Lalonde said. "I wish we had done a better job without him (4-10-0 this season), but the stats are remarkable. We're going to be a .600 team with him and a .200 team without him."

Thompson got Buffalo to within 3-1 at 13:16 of the first with a power-play goal.

"We had a game plan, but they got one and we turned it into two, and we turned that into three," Thompson said. "It was all self-inflicted wounds, and then we had to chase the game."

Lyon made 28 saves in the final two periods.

"When the guys give you a start like that, you want to reward them," he said. "I thought we did a good job of shutting down the game and making them go 200 feet to get a chance."

NOTES: Kane, who was born in Buffalo, has 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists) in 28 games against the Sabres. … Thompson has 10 points (seven goals, three assists) in his past five games. … Larkin's goal was his 499th NHL point (210 goals, 289 assists in 647 games). With his next point, he would be the 14th player to reach 500 points with the Red Wings.