Six Red Wings score in win against Sabres

BUFFALO -- Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist, and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 at KeyBank Center on Thursday.
Anthony Mantha and Evgeny Svechnikov each had a goal and an assist, and Jimmy Howard made 29 saves for the Red Wings (29-38-11), who had lost their past 11 road games (0-10-1).

"We've got great, great character," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "We've talked lots about it through the year. It's easy when things are going well, and people talk character when you win, and that's not really when character shows. Character shows when it's been tough like it's been tough here. We've got great character, great workers and competitors. I think we should have a better record than we have, but it is what it is. Our guys have continued to work."
\[WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Sabres highlights\]
Ryan O'Reilly, Jack Eichel, and Evan Rodrigues scored for the Sabres (24-41-12), who are 1-5-0 in their past six games.
Detroit and Buffalo has each been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention.
Larkin cut it to 2-1 at 7:41 of the first period, scoring from the right hashmarks over the blocker of Sabres goalie Robin Lehner.

"It was a big goal, the Larkin goal," Blashill said. "You're down 2-0 and if they score at any point and make it 3-0, it's hard to come back on the road. Once we made it 2-1, it makes it a much more feasible thing."
It was Larkin's fourth goal in the past six games.
"It does feel good to score," Larkin said. "It is a stat that's really important in this league and as a player you want to score goals. But you know what, all year I wanted to be a solid 200-foot player, power play, penalty kill, a guy that makes my linemates better, so it's definitely a bonus getting rewarded the last six games."
Darren Helm tied it 2-2 with a shorthanded breakaway goal at 5:21 of the second period.

Mantha gave the Red Wings a 3-2 lead at 16:26 of the second period on a rebound.
"There's a lot of goals to be had around that net," Blashill said. "I think Mantha's] bought into it more and more as we've went along, and I think that'll help him get to the high goal mark that he wants to get to."
Lehner, who made 17 saves, left after the second period because of an undisclosed injury and was replaced by Chad Johnson. Johnson made nine saves.
Andreas Athanasiou made it 4-2 at 1:50 of the third period, scoring into an open net after Justin Abdelkader sent him a pass from between his legs.
Rodrigues cut it to 4-3 at 4:51 with a wrist shot off a face-off win by
[Casey Mittelstadt
.

Mittelstadt, who was selected in the first round (No. 8) by the Sabres in the 2017 NHL Draft, was making his debut after signing a three-year, entry-level contract on Monday.
"Obviously it's something that I dreamed about," Mittelstadt said. "It's pretty exciting. I think it's a bit of a burden off; you kind of want to get rid of the first point and go from there. So, for me, it was definitely exciting. I'm sure my parents were excited, so it's definitely cool."
Danny DeKeyser gave Detroit a 5-3 lead at 10:10 of the third, and Svechnikov extended it to 6-3 at 16:59.
Henrik Zetterberg, who got an assist on DeKeyser's goal, tied Sergei Fedorov for fifth on the Red Wings all-time points list (954).
Eichel gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 3:16 of the first period, and O'Reilly made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 7:11.

Goal of the game

DeKeyser's goal at 10:10 of the third period.

Save of the game

Howard's save on Scott Wilson at 18:45 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Athanasiou's goal at 1:50 of the third period.

They said it

"It was obviously something that was special, probably more so when you look back at your career and you probably think about that a lot more. I saw [Tyler Bertuzzi] went and picked up the puck. I knew it was close, but I wasn't really sure where I was, but it was a nice goal."-- Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg on tying Sergei Fedorov on the Red Wings points list
"I was really satisfied. To be not playing for a month and come into a tough situation, I thought he handled himself very well. A lot of the mistakes that he made, you could just see he's a little rusty right now. But, certainly, he did a lot of good things out there." -- Sabres coach Phil Housley on Casey Mittelstadt's debut

Need to know

Zetterberg has 336 goals and 618 assists in his NHL career, all with the Red Wings. … Eichel set a career-high in goals (25) and tied his career-high in points (57). … There was no update on Lehner's status after the game.

What's next

Red Wings:Host the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; SN1, TVAS, FS-D+, NHL.TV)
Sabres: At the Nashville Predators on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, MSG-B, NHL.TV)