Detroit − Different type of game, but same frustrating result for the Red Wings.
After losing badly to Buffalo on Halloween night, the Wings staged a fine rally Wednesday, forcing overtime, but ultimately lost 5-4 in the shootout.
Buffalo’s Jack Quinn was the lone goal scorer in the shootout, clinching the Sabres’ win.
David Perron and two Oskar Sundqvist goals in the third period tied the game 4-4 after the Wings looked headed for another disappointing loss and trailing 4-1.
The Wings had a 1 minute, 27 second two-man advantage in the final two minutes of regulation time but failed to convert, capping an 0-for-7 night on the power play and forcing overtime.
“Supposed to be, not satisfied, but happy with the way we came back and battled from down 4-1, and it’s a good sign,” forward Andrew Copp said. “But it still stinks right now not getting the extra point. We had a couple chances to put it away, and it stings a lot more than it should.”
Jonatan Berggren opened the scoring just 1 minute, 20 seconds into the game, but Buffalo answered with four unanswered goals before Perron scored his seventh goal, midway in the third period.
BOX SCORE: Sabres 5, Red Wings 4 (SO)
Sundqvist then scored two goals 1:50 apart, his second and third goals of the season. On the second, the game-tying goal, Copp won the faceoff and Sundqvist gathered the puck, whistling a shot from the hashmarks past goaltender Craig Anderson, tying the game 4-4.
“I’m real proud of the guys, you just don’t come back from three goals down in this league, and the way we did it,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “The fight back started at the end of the second period, and down 4-1 and things weren’t going our way, the guys just dug in and I’m really proud of the group. This is a huge point we’ll tap back into throughout the season.”
Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic got his first start since Nov. 12 (he did relieve Ville Husso Monday), struggled to open the game but rebounded to keep the Wings close while stopping 30 shots.
“He battled,” Lalonde said. “It’s a game that’s not going well for him, he doesn’t look himself, and to compete and battle the way he did, it’s good on him.”
Dylan Cozens scored twice for Buffalo (one shorthanded), and Mattias Samuelsson and Jeff Skinner (power play) added the Sabres’ goals.
Buffalo dominated the special teams with power play and shorthanded goals, while the Wings were 0-for-7 on the power play, including the huge chance near the end of regulation time and not converting with the two-man advantage.
“We need to shoot the puck a little more, we’re passing a little too much right now,” Sundqvist said. “Just shoot the puck and we create the breakdowns that way.”
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Berggren gave the Wings a brief lead with his second goal, just 80 seconds into the game.
Filip Hronek found Berggren with a short pass, with Berggren skating to near the hashmarks. Berggren snapped a shot that got through a screened Anderson, giving the Wings a quick lead.
But the Sabres would just a quickly change the complexion of the game.
Cozens opened the Buffalo scoring with a shorthanded goal, chipping it past Berggren and outskating Lucas Raymond to the puck, then beating Nedeljkovic on a partial breakaway at 4:53, tying the game 1-1.
Buffalo took the lead when Samuelsson, who played for the Plymouth Township-based United States National Development Team Program, scored his first NHL goal on a shot from the rush at 8:25, the puck bouncing off Nedeljkovic and into the net.
The Wings, despite trailing, were still feeling good about their game.
“We were playing pretty good, honestly,” Copp said. “We were on them. We stayed on them in the third (period) a little more and won battles in the offensive zone and when we do that, you saw we create offense.”
The Sabres stretched the lead to 4-1 in the first half of the second period.
Cozens got his second goal, and eighth of the season, converting a good pass from J.J. Peterka with a shot from the high slot at 8:12.
Skinner extended the lead to 4-1 at 11:13, jamming the puck on a wraparound.
On Skinner’s goal, Moritz Seider went down in severe pain after blocking a shot by Buffalo’s Tage Thompson on the left leg. While Seider was writhing in pain, the Sabres worked the puck to Skinner, who scored his 11th goal.
Seider returned before the end of the second period.
The Wings lost forward Tyler Bertuzzi in the third period when he appeared to get hit by a shot near the same left hand that Bertuzzi broke blocking a shot the second game of the season.
Lalonde had no update on Bertuzzi after the game.
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan