Game 68: The one that got away

The Sabres had a 1-0 lead after the first period and looked in control... but it got out of their hands in the final 40 minutes in a 4-1 loss to Detroit.

The Gordie Howe statue greets fans on the concourse at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit (Photo: Joe Yerdon)

DETROIT — When teams are dancing on the razor’s edge of the playoff race, every game is their own version of a playoff game. For a younger team that’s still learning about what meaningful games late in the season is all about, even after last season, the Buffalo Sabres are figuring out that desperation can carry a team through a game.

Desperation in this case came in the form of a Detroit Red Wings team that had lost seven consecutive games and has fallen back to the pack in the Eastern Conference wild card race in rapid fashion. The Wings, on home ice, found their desperation gear and used that to run over the Sabres after Buffalo took it to them in the opening period en route to a 4-1 win.

Buffalo had a 1-0 lead after the first period thanks to a Tage Thompson power play goal, but from the second period on, it was the Red Wings who looked more like the team we’ve seen from them most of the season. After the Sabres rolled over the Red Wings on Tuesday in Buffalo, getting the early lead on Saturday turned out to be their undoing.

“We thought it was going to be the same way in the second and in the third,” Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin said. “They came out desperate and they really wanted it, so we were kind of on our heels. We never really came back.”

More ahead on a gut-shot of a loss to kick off a difficult five-game road trip…