BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Patrick Kane had two goals and three assists to lead the Detroit Red Wings in a 7-3 win against the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night.
The five points are the most in two seasons with the Red Wings for Kane, the South Buffalo native who ranks third all-time among American-born NHL players with 1,329 points. It’s the fourth time in 1,285 regular season games Kane has recorded five or more points, and the most he’s tallied against his hometown team.
Both of Kane’s goals came on power plays, his second giving Detroit a 5-3 lead at 1:36 into the third period. The win ended a six-game skid for the Red Wings, who are two points back in the Eastern Conference wild-card playoff race, 12 ahead of the last-place Sabres.
Tage Thompson had a goal and two assists for the Sabres, who have lost seven of the past eight games. Thompson leads the Sabres with 34 goals, and his 17 first period goals are the most in the NHL.
Zach Benson scored his 10th of the season on a power play late in the second period to make it 4-3. Josh Norris got his first goal since joining the Sabres in a trade. It was his 21st of the year.
Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had a difficult night, stopping just 22 of 29 shots he faced. The seven goals allowed were a season-high for Luukkonen, and his .749 save percentage was the lowest in a game in which he played all three periods. He gave up three goals in both the first and third periods after a solid outing in Monday night’s 3-2 victory against the Edmonton Oilers.
Fight-filled 3rd period leads to 134 penalty minutes
Buffalo’s Alex Tuch and Detroit captain Michael Rasmussen were the first to drop the gloves in the fight-filled third period.
They weren’t even among the 11 players assessed 10-minute misconduct penalties in the final frame. Six were from Buffalo, the other five from Detroit.
The final tally from the third: 136 of the game’s 150 penalty minutes, all but two of those either roughing, fighting or misconducts.
The Detroit lead was 6-3 when Tuch and Rasmussen faced off with eight minutes remaining. They posed with their fists raised for almost as long as the fight lasted, which was only a few seconds.
Less than a minute later, Detroit’s J.T. Compher and Jordan Greenway of Buffalo got tangled up. After the whistle, their scrum was very brief — but bad enough that both went to locker room with game misconducts. Greenway gave officials an ear full on his way off the ice.
The other nine misconducts came at the 16:51 mark, punctuated by one of the referees announcing a roughing penalty for Detroit defenseman Simon Edvinsson before saying, “All the other guys are going to have a misconduct.” The list included Edvinsson.
Buffalo had just five players on the bench by game’s end after Beck Malenstyn was sent off for roughing in the final minute along with Detroit’s Moritz Seider.
Up next
Buffalo hosts former captain Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.