Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Raymond, Patrick Kane and Dylan Larkin were heavily involved in the Wings’ outing against the Eastern Conference cellar-dwellers Buffalo Sabers on Saturday, November 15. But what looked good for half a game at Little Caesars Arena wasn’t so good at the end, when the Sabers made it a night.
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The Wings ended up chasing a point in a 5-4 loss, which ended when Mattias Samuelsson scored in overtime. The Sabers (6-8-4) have just six wins in 18 games, but two of them came against the Red Wings (10-7-1).
Tage Thompson, who once scored six points on the Wings, showed off his skills when he carried the puck from his own zone to the Detroit net to bring his Sabers within a goal at 4:25 of the third period.
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The Sabers scored a third straight goal midway through the second period, when Ryan McLeod went wide while his team was shorthanded and made John Gibson pay for it.
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Simon Edvinsson went down the tunnel early in the third period after a third-period play in which he was called for a high stick, leaving Jonatan Berggren to take the penalty. Berggren took his own penalty shortly after the Sabers tied it.
The Sabers were missing three players due to injury in the final minutes, but still managed to take a too-many penalty with 2:33 left.
The second half came after everything seemed to be going well for the Wings. Kane started the scoring when he positioned himself to the right of the Buffalo net, in a perfect spot to recite Ben Chiarot’s pass near the blue line to make it 1-0 at 10:23 of the first period.
But just like their game on Thursday (a 6-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks), the Wings conceded goals before they could build momentum. Tonight it was Alex Tuch throwing a backhand behind a slumped Gibson. Shots were 5-4 for the Sabers after the first period.
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Taking advantage in the second
Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex Debrincat (93) scores over Buffalo Sabers goalie Colten Ellis (92) in the second period at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025.
DeBrincat caught a pass from Raymond just a few feet from the net and was able to take advantage of his own rebound, knocking the puck off Ellis’ pads and making it 2-1 at 3:52 of the second period.
A short-lived power play ended when Kane was sent into the box at 14 seconds, but Larkin made it 3-1 during four-on-four play. He sent a pass to Raymond and then ran to the net to catch the return pass and scored for the 11th time this season. When the Wings went on another power play midway through the period, DeBrincat was credited with his second of the night when he received a pass from Raymond and an attempted cross-court pass to Kane went off Samuelsson’s stick.
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Josh Doan scored on a tip with 2:02 left, and Edvinsson put the Sabers on a power play with 1:37 left in the second period.
The Wings won’t have much time to dwell on the loss as they head to New York to face the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Detroit).
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Read more about the Detroit Red Wings and subscribe to our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings blow 3-goal lead in 5-4 overtime loss to Buffalo Sabers