Detroit Red Wings sliced up, outshot again by Buffalo Sabres, 5-3

Lucas Raymond scored his first goal of the season and the Detroit Red Wings scored a special-teams goal, but it was their opponent that came away celebrating.

The Wings lost, 5-3, to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday at KeyBank Center, ending a three-game winning streak.

Alex Lyon made 34 saves. With the Wings down by a goal, he was pulled with just under a couple minutes to go. During the ensuing six-on-five possession, Buffalo native Patrick Kane had the puck but clanged his shot off the goalpost. The Sabres then were able to get possession and Jack Quinn scored into an empty net from the far slot to put away the game. The Wings finished with 25 shots.

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An early deficit

The game began as the last two did: With the Wings getting outshot badly.

Jonatan Berggren had a good chance from the left circle, set up by Joe Veleno, near the 11-minute mark. That was the Wings' third shot on net; the Sabres at the time had a dozen — and a 1-0 lead. The time spent addressing the penalty kill during Friday's practice, after it coughed up three goals to the New York Islanders on Thursday, was not enough: Four minutes into the game, with rookie Marco Kasper in the penalty box, the Sabres — who had the NHL's worst man-advantage numbers at 0-for-22 through eight games — celebrated their first power play goal of the season when Jason Zucker scored on a second-chance attempt. Tage Thompson, who assisted on that goal, scored one of his own at the 12-minute mark as a miscommunication between Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson, coupled with a bad line change, led to Buffalo taking a 2-0 lead.

The Wings were able to limit the damage when Alex DeBrincat scored his fourth goal of the season. Dylan Larkin worked the puck behind Buffalo's net; Lucas Raymond's hard work in the corner got the puck out front to DeBrincat, who briefly passed to Seider before getting the puck back and beating Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at 14:43.

Climbing back

In the second period, Thompson and Michael Rasmussen traded goals within the opening four minutes. Raymond tied the game during a Buffalo power play, taking advantage of Jeff Petry driving the net and distracting Rasmus Dahlin —who assisted on Buffalo's first three goals — and giving Raymond space to fire the puck high into the net, earning his first career shorthanded goal at 11:02.

Instead of building off that momentum, the Wings fell behind again when Bowen Byram scored at 15:54.

The Wings (4-4-0) play again Sunday, when they host the Edmonton Oilers (6 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Detroit) at Little Caesars Arena.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com . Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames .

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Her latest book, “The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings , A Curated History of the Red Wings,” was released October 2024. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon , Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings sliced up, outshot again by Buffalo Sabres, 5-3