Red Wings beat Sabres in Pavel Datsyuk’s return to the lineup
By Nick Barnowski –
DETROIT – As their push for the playoffs continues, the Detroit Red Wings picked up their fourth consecutive victory Friday night, defeating the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2.
Darren Helm, Tomas Jurco, and Daniel Alfredsson scored for the Wings while Jimmy Howard made 21 saves to keep the club in playoff contention in the Eastern Conference. The game also marked the return of forward Pavel Datsyuk, who missed 16 games with an injury to his knee.
The Red Wings (37-26-14) scored all three goals in the first period in dominating fashion, but Buffalo countered twice to keep the game close for the final two frames.
“I thought we actually came out and really played well,” Babcock said. “Our guys did tons of good things. The reality of it is we had a ton of opportunities to score and we didn’t finish on a lot of our chances.”
After a first period filled with energy, Alfredsson, who returned from a lower-body injury, said that the pace of the game for the club slowed as the game went on.
“I think we probably tried to protect the lead too much and they worked themselves into the game,” he said. “I think it’s the pressure, the time of the year, the magnitude of the game, a game we can’t afford to lose, all of those things combined makes for us being cautious.”
Helm kicked off the scoring a little more than five minutes into the first period by banging the puck into the net from close range. It was his 11th of the season, leaving him one shy of his single season career high.
Then, at the 14:12 mark of the first, the Red Wings capitalized on a Sabres penalty to extend their lead to 2-0. Danny DeKeyser fired a shot from the point that was tipped by Jurco in the slot. It was Jurco’s seventh goal of the season and DeKeyser’s second assist of the night.
Shortly after, Alfredsson scored eventual game-winning-goal by putting home a rebound from the side of the net.
In the second period, Buffalo (21-47-9) was able to slow the game down and limited the number of scoring opportunities Detroit had. Jamie McBain put the Sabres on the board with a power-play goal 12:28 into the period to bring the game to 3-1.
“I thought our second period, the intensity fell off and we kind of got them going a little bit and it ends up being a tighter game,” Babcock said.
Howard, who faced 23 shots, agreed with Babcock’s assessment.
“I think we got a little bit ahead of ourselves in the second period and I think we got away from our game plan,” the Detroit goaltender said. “Our game plan was working really well in the first, we were getting on top of them. I think we got away from that in the second and third.”
Buffalo’s Nicolas Deslauriers scored his first career NHL goal in the third period, but the Red Wings were able to thwart any further chances by the Sabres. The Red Wings had multiple scoring chances of their own in the third but were unable to cash in.
“I thought we did lots of good things in the third,” Babcock said. “Sometimes when you don’t score you evaluate it as we didn’t play well enough, but I thought we did lots of good things.”
With the win, the Red Wings remain in seventh place in the Eastern Conference and are three points clear of the Columbus Blue Jackets and four points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The team understands that every point is important with only five games remaining.
“We’re going to keep going, we can’t let up,” Alfredsson said. “You never know and until they put that ‘X’ next to you in the standings. You keep going.”