Red Wings recover, top Sabres in OT

BUFFALO -- Tyler Bertuzzi scored his second goal at 2:18 of overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a 5-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

Bertuzzi, who also had an assist, scored on a one-timer from the right circle after taking a pass from Danny DeKeyser on a 3-on-2.
Dylan Larkin scored two goals, Anthony Mantha had three assists, and Jimmy Howard made 35 saves for Detroit (29-38-10), which has won three in a row and five of its past six games.
WATCH: [All Red Wings vs. Sabres highlights]
"Over the last five, six games … we've competed, we've sacrificed, we've done the things that it takes," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "Guys are growing in the positions they're in. They're not perfect, but they're getting better, and that's the biggest key for us is that we're moving towards a better tomorrow."
Casey Mittelstadt had a goal and an assist, and Linus Ullmark made 29 saves for Buffalo (31-36-10), which has lost five in a row (0-4-1) and is 1-10-2 in its past 13 games.
"Go down two, have a great, strong second period, showed some good resiliency," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "In the third period, just some young mistakes. It's unfortunate, but I like the way we came back. We fought until the end."
Mittelstadt scored on a turnaround in the right circle to cut it to 4-3 at 15:01 of the third period before Jack Eichel scored his 100th NHL goal alone in the slot 41 seconds later to tie it 4-4. Victor Olofsson, who was making his NHL debut, had the primary assist on the play.

"I heard [Eichel], he was calling for the puck there," Olofsson said. "I was just trying to get it in there in the middle. It was a great finish by him."
Bertuzzi gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 12:02 of the first period, redirecting Mantha's pass at the top of the crease on the power play.
"Keeping it simple and just kind of cycling it down low," Bertuzzi said of the chemistry with linemates Larkin and Mantha. "I go to the net front and they kind of work it around. [Mantha's] a big body and we're jelling when we're switching back and cutting back and making little plays. We played pretty well tonight."
Filip Hronek scored 1:00 into the second period to make it 2-0 after receiving a cross-ice pass from Mantha and converting a one-timer from the left circle.

Kyle Okposo cut it to 2-1 at 6:12, beating Howard short side from the right circle on a power play, and Marco Scandella tied it 2-2 at 17:16 after taking a pass from Zemgus Girgensons in the right circle following a rebound in the slot.
Larkin skated around the top of the Sabres zone before stopping in the left circle and shooting off Ullmark's glove to put the Red Wings ahead 3-2 at 6:44 of the third period. He made it 4-2 on a one-timer from low in the right circle at 13:04. The goal was Larkin's 30th of the season, the first time he has reached that mark in the NHL.
"It's bittersweet because of the situation we're in now, but it does feel pretty good that hard work pays off and to prove to people that I could be a goal-scorer in this League," Larkin said.

They said it

"It was a fun game for us, but we sure would like to clean it up there in the third and not have them coming back, a sight we've seen too many times this year. It's good to get the two points and find a way but, again, we've got to clean things up and play with maturity like we have the past couple of games when we have the lead." -- Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin
"We talked the other night, everyone's playing for something right now and I thought a lot of our young guys brought some really good energy and they fit right in. It was good to see that, on the back end all the way through up front. It's good that we didn't quit there. We were down two goals twice and we had some good resiliency, but it's unfortunate. We want to get on the right side of these ones and start feeling good about ourselves here." -- Sabres captain Jack Eichel

Need to know

Larkin is the first Red Wings player to score at least 30 goals in a season since 2008-09 when four players reached the mark (Marian Hossa, 40; Johan Franzen, 34; Pavel Datsyuk, 32; Henrik Zetterberg, 31). … Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson left at 17:42 of the first period with a lower-body injury, and forward Frans Nielsen left after a collision with teammate Luke Witkowski at 11:43 of the third period. Blashill said he would know more on each player's status Friday. … Olofsson became the 500th player to play for the Sabres in the regular season or the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

What's next

Red Wings:Host the New Jersey Devils on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D+, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Sabres: At the New York Islanders on Saturday (Nassau Coliseum; 7 p.m. ET; MSG+ 2, MSG-B, NHL.TV)