Sabres 'empty the tank,' earn tying goal late in OT loss to Red Wings

DETROIT -With 20 minutes left to play in their busiest week of the season, the Sabres made a conscious effort to leave whatever energy they had left on the ice. It paid off with a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena.
The Sabres were playing on back-to-back nights to conclude a stretch of five games in seven days. They entered the third period trailing 2-1 but forced overtime when Jeff Skinner tipped the tying goal past Alex Nedeljkovic with 1:23 remaining.
Lucas Raymond buried the winner for Detroit 26 seconds into the extra period.

Buffalo concludes the week having earned three of a possible four points in the final two games. The Sabres beat the Canadiens 4-1 at KeyBank Center on Friday.

"For us it's about competing, working," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "… That's why I liked our third period. We elevated, we took more time and space away from them, we played more aggressive. Now, I don't know that we could have done that for 60 minutes. But we knew we could finish the game and we had to empty the tank at that point.
"I'm happy for that because that's what we have to do. We have to push and grind and completely drain ourselves by the end with work ethic. I'm happy for that because I do believe that's what's gonna make us better each day and we know we have to become better each day."
The Sabres opened the scoring at 5:05 of the second period when Dylan Cozens buried a feed from Brett Murray on the rush. The Red Wings responded with a push for the remainder of the period, scoring the tying and go-ahead goals just a minute and 19 seconds apart.
Carter Rowney pushed Detroit's first goal in over the line after a shot from Gustav Lindstrom created a scramble in the Buffalo crease. Pius Suter followed it up by burying a rebound off a shot from the point by Moritz Seider.
Granato expressed regret afterward for not challenging Suter's goal for goalie interference. Red Wings forward Givani Smith, jostling for position with Rasmus Dahlin, appeared to make contact with Tokarski that prompted the goaltender to fall to the ice.
"I didn't have good enough video on the bench," Granato said. "We had some trouble there. … If I had to do it again, I would have [challenged] just to defend Ticker and, you know, put confidence in our penalty kill at that point."

Tokarski felt the call could have gone either way.
"It could have been the right call," he said. "Maybe they get a power play and get another one and we don't get that point. I trust our staff to make those calls."
The Sabres tied the game with Tokarski pulled for an extra attacker. Cody Eakin took a shot from the right faceoff circle that deflected off a defender on its way to the net. Skinner was able to get his stick on the puck for his sixth goal of the season.
"Ticker did his job to keep it tight and we had a good push at the end," Granato said. "So, I was happy with that."

Tokarski goes back-to-back

Tokarski started for the second night in a row and made 38 saves. He stopped 25 shots during the win over the Canadiens.
"Every time he was comfortable in posture he was in front of the puck and stood tall and it was great to see," Granato said. "He did not show any signs of fatigue, and that's obviously a concern when you're playing back-to-back. And he passed that test perfectly."
The one shot that beat Tokarski clean was Raymond's in overtime, a wrister from the high slot.
"Honestly, he was coming down, I saw it the whole way," Tokarski said. "I think it's just one of those ones, you know, I should have saved it. I know probably for a fact that's not where he was shooting so there's a little bit of just, took something off it and handcuffed me. It should have been a save."

Murray notches 1st NHL point

Granato watched Murray turn in a two-goal performance with Rochester against Lehigh Valley last Friday. Murray scored once again at Utica on Wednesday - his sixth goal in nine AHL games this season - and was recalled two days later in the wake of an injury to Drake Caggiula.
After just missing his first NHL goal against the Canadiens, Murray made his way onto the score sheet with the primary assist on Cozens' goal, finding the second-year center in the slot on the rush.

Murray skated 12:50 and tallied one shot on goal. Shot attempts were

Up next

The Sabres return home to host the Seattle Kraken on Monday. The team will hold its annual Hockey Fights Cancer Night, presented by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Find more information here.
Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. The puck drops at 7.