Sabres surrender 3 unanswered goals in overtime loss to Detroit

Things seemed to be going the Buffalo Sabres' way Monday afternoon until a power-play opportunity midway through the third period.
The Sabres had just scored to make it 2-0 and the Detroit Red Wings lost a challenge for goaltender interference, putting Buffalo on the power play. However, a minute into the man advantage, Vladislav Namestnikov scored shorthanded.
"We just didn't manage the situation well," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "It's growing pains, simple as that. At some point, you gain the situational awareness to have a greater sense of objective here. The last thing you should be doing is complicating things on a power play at that point. It should be just simple and direct."
Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin tied the game with 6:32 left and then potted another in overtime to lift the Red Wings to a 3-2 victory at KeyBank Center.

"It's tough to give up a shorthanded (goal) there after we just scored, but in the third period, you've got a lead, you've got a power play, you have to find a way to close those games out," Sabres forward Jeff Skinner, who recorded a goal and an assist, said. "Not just tonight, but overall this season, we haven't done a good enough job of that. We've got to fix that."

Aaron Dell stopped 32 shots while Alex Nedeljkovic made 26 saves for the Red Wings.

Buffalo got on the board first thanks to Henri Jokiharju's second goal of the season.
Off a faceoff, Jokiharju's shot found its way in through an Alex Tuch screen to make it 1-0 at the 9:56 mark of the first period.
The Sabres thought they had made it 2-0 at the 8:15 mark of the second period on a goal from Tuch, but video replay ruled that Tuch entered the zone offside, and the goal was called back after Detroit challenged the play.
In the third period, both Victor Olofsson and Tuch had breakaway opportunities, but couldn't convert.
"Things like that have to go in if we're going to win games," Tuch said.

Skinner was able to put Buffalo ahead 2-0 at the 9:21 mark of the third period when he picked up a loose puck in front of the net to score his team-leading 14th of the season. In his last six games, Skinner has six points (5+1).
Detroit challenged for goaltender interference. The ruling on the ice was upheld, putting Buffalo on the power play.
Then Namestnikov scored shorthanded exactly one minute later to cut Buffalo's lead to one and Detroit's pressure mounted from there.
The Red Wings tied things up with 6:32 left when Dylan Larkin connected on a one-timer in the slot. And then Larkin scored again with 2:53 left in overtime to send Detroit home with two points.
Buffalo is 1-6 in games that have ended in overtime this season.

"You've got to learn from it and understand how that feels to not only lose, but lose after giving up a lead, and make sure it doesn't happen next time," Tuch said. "It comes with experience. It comes with games and you just have to bear down in certain situations."
Detroit outshot Buffalo 4-0 in overtime, but also won three faceoffs to control play throughout the extra period.
"There are some things we will have to look in the mirror at - decisions in overtime - but it's tough when to get the puck back in overtime or 3-on-3 situations when we don't win the draw," Granato said.

Samuelsson's season debut

With defenseman Jacob Bryson out with an upper-body injury and Colin Miller on injured reserve with an injury of his own, rookie Mattias Samuelsson made his season debut Monday afternoon.
He skated 18:32, including 0:47 on the penalty kill, and recorded two blocked shots. He played 12 games for the Sabres at the end of last season, which included the first game of his NHL career.
"He was good. He was the least of our worries, that's for sure. He's a pretty stabilizing guy, obviously a big body," Granato said. "We've used Tuch and Thompson on the penalty kill because they just cover so much ice and range. Samuelsson has such a presence with his size and reach and strength. It's his first game at this level in quite a while and I thought he did a nice job with that."
Samuelsson will be in the lineup again Tuesday night when the Sabres take on the Ottawa Senators on the road. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550 with pregame coverage on MSG beginning at 6:30.