At the Horn | Red Wings 4 - Sabres 1

Tage Thompson scored the lone goal for the Buffalo Sabres in a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings inside Little Caesars Arena on Saturday as the Sabres opened a five-game road swing.

After Thompson opened the scoring, the Red Wings tallied four unanswered goals from Christian Fischer, Patrick Kane, Daniel Sprong, and Lucas Raymond to snap their seven-game losing streak and move into the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. James Reimer made 25 saves.

Rasmus Dahlin extended his point streak to three games with the primary assist on Thompson’s goal while Alex Tuch recorded the secondary assist.

Jordan Greenway led the Sabres with five shots in the game. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 22 of 25 shots in his 40th start of the season.

The Sabres ended the afternoon 1-for-2 on the power play and a perfect 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.

SCORING SUMMARY

Period 1, 11:22 (PP) – Tage Thompson from Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch (1-0, BUF)

The Sabres held a 10-8 edge in shots and a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period as Thompson recorded his 20th goal of the season.

Buffalo first successfully killed off a penalty by Eric Robinson with Jacob Bryson, Jordan Greenway, and Alex Tuch recording blocked shots on the penalty kill.   

Tyson Jost then drew a tripping penalty on Patrick Kane in the offensive zone to send the Sabres to the power play.

Thompson tallied his eighth power-play goal of the season after Dahlin fed Thompson for a shot from the left circle that beat Reimer five-hole with 8:38 remaining in the first.

Period 2, 5:35 – Christian Fischer from Andrew Copp and Moritz Seider (1-1)

Detroit tied the score 5:35 into the second period when Copp worked the puck along the end boards and passed to Fischer behind the Sabres’ net. Fischer brought the puck in front of Luukkonen while Dahlin applied pressure, but Fischer scored on his backhand as he fell to the ice.

Period 2, 17:40 – Patrick Kane from J.T. Compher and Shayne Gostisbehere (2-1, BUF)

Kane gave the Red Wings their first lead of the day with 2:20 to go in the second. Detroit put the pressure on in Sabres’ zone, tallying three shot attempts before Compher pushed the puck through the crease for Kane, who was below the right circle to lift the puck into the empty net as Luukkonen was sliding over.

Period 3, 13:52 – Daniel Sprong from Robby Fabbri (3-1, BUF)

The Red Wings extended their lead when Sprong took a quick shot from the left wall through traffic to beat Luukkonen short side.

Period 3, 18:53 (EN) – Lucas Raymond from Michael Rasmussen and Andrew Copp (4-1, BUF)

Raymond added an empty-net goal with 1:07 remaining to secure the Red Wings' victory.

UP NEXT

The road trip continues with a visit to Seattle on Monday. 

Pregame coverage on MSG/MSG+ begins at 9:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 10. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.