BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Sabres once again found a path to defeat when victory appeared on the horizon.
Monday night’s 6-5 shootout loss against the Detroit Red Wings deepened Buffalo’s winless skid to seven games and further depressed hopes of climbing back into playoff contention.
Wasting a hot start against a struggling opponent that turned to a rookie goaltender after the first period, the Sabres surrendered a 5-3 lead in the final 10 minutes of the third and turned the crowd at KeyBank Center against them.
One fan near the ice tossed an inflated palm tree over the boards to display displeasure with general manager Kevyn Adams’ defiant response to the unraveling progress of this Sabres season.
Another questioned ownership’s commitment with bellows of “Where’s Terry?” at the buzzer.
Some fans booed. Several groaned. A good number were there to cheer the visitors. Many came to celebrate “Banditland on Ice,” enjoying the lacrosse-style back-and-forth action. A whole lot just didn’t care to attend.
Jason Zucker had two goals and an assist, Zach Benson, Tage Thompson and Nicolas Aube-Kubel also scored, Peyton Krebs and Ryan McLeod each had two assists, and James Reimer made 26 saves in the loss that dropped Buffalo into a tie with Detroit for 13th place in the Eastern Conference with 26 points in 28 games.
McLeod came close to ending Buffalo’s losing streak when he clanged a backhand off the post on a breakaway in overtime.
Alex Tuch scored in the shootout, while JJ Peterka and Tage Thompson were stopped by Red Wings goalie Sebastian Cossa, who stopped 12 of 14 shots in becoming the first player to win his NHL debut by shootout in a relief effort. Cossa entered at the start of the second period after Ville Husso made four saves on seven shots in the first.
Andrew Copp scored twice as the Detroit Red Wings snapped a five-game skid. Copp’s second goal started Buffalo’s comeback at 10:27 of the third period. Defenseman Moritz Seider tied it 5:14 later. Dylan Larkin scored the decider in the shootout to seal the victory. Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond also scored for the Red Wings.
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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 reporting.