The Detroit Red Wings snapped a three-game losing streak on Thursday with a strong outing against Anaheim. They’ll hope for a carryover effect when they host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
Detroit notched a 6-3 win over the Ducks, scoring three goals in each of the second and third periods. Alex DeBrincat led the way with two goals, including a power-play goal. Moritz Seider also scored on the man advantage after the Wings had come up empty in 21 of their previous 22 power plays.
Detroit had a couple of practice days to work on its issues after a 5-1 loss to Chicago on Sunday.
“You take the lesson … then you take the test,” coach Todd McLellan said. “We scored some goals — just simple, hard, playoff-type goals, when you think about It. Hard, hard goals, feeder shots that go to the next and you’ve got to battle. And then the other way with some of their feeder shots, we were sacrificing in front of our net. We stepped into some things. The goaltenders made saves, so it is rewarding. But we can’t just take the lesson one day and forget about it next week. That lesson is supposed to stay with us now.”
The Red Wings were cruising along with a 9-4-0 record before the slide. Detroit is in the midst of a stretch in which it plays seven of eight games at home.
“It’s a big moment,” McLellan said of Thursday’s win. “It alleviates some of the misery because it’s been miserable here the last few days, which it should be. We expect more from each other, staff included. It alleviates the misery for a while, though we’ve got to get back on the ice again tomorrow and we know we have a tough weekend coming up.”
One concern for Detroit is the health of goaltender John Gibson. He left the game after the second period due to an upper-body injury.
The Sabres will be looking to snap a five-game losing streak. They’ve lost their last four games in regulation. The Colorado Avalanche scored twice in the first seven minutes of a 6-3 victory over the Sabres on Thursday.
Buffalo tied the contest in the second but the Avalanche regained the lead in that period, then scored two late goals to seal the Sabres’ fate.
“We’ve been fighting it a little bit the past couple of games, so two points would’ve been huge for us,” Buffalo forward Jordan Greenway said. “Couldn’t find a way to do it, so we’ve got to move on to Detroit.”
The Sabres got a power-play goal from Tage Thompson, their first in 14 opportunities. They hadn’t scored on a power play this month.
“We changed things around, we moved the puck quicker, we were a lot more direct,” coach Lindy Ruff said.
The Sabres recorded a 4-2 home win over the Red Wings on Oct. 22 with Jack Quinn scoring the go-ahead goal on a third-period power play.
Buffalo is still seeking its first road victory. The Sabres are 0-5-2 away from home.
