Buffalo Sabres sweep Red Wings in an epic playoff-like contest
By Sion Fawkes
The Detroit Red Wings just would not go away, but in the end, the Buffalo Sabres earned a hard fought 7-6 victory to pull off the season sweep.
Twice, the Buffalo Sabres led by two goals, and twice, the Detroit Red Wings found a way to claw back into the contest. And for a second, it looked as though the Steve Yzerman-built Wings stuffed the Sabres.
It came on the final minute of the game, when David Perron got one by goaltender Devon Levi to tie the game at six. A shot off of defenseman Mattias Samuelsson’s skate later in the final minute nearly went into the net could have won the back-and-forth battle for Detroit, but as luck would have it, the puck never found twine, and Buffalo survived to see the overtime period.
Once again, the Sabres had an opportunity to end it, having logged three solid overtime shots on net, but goaltender Ville Husso held strong. Levi was challenged with a late breakaway, but he remained stoic, forcing a shootout for the second time this season between these two teams.
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Unfortunately for Levi, he let the first one in off of a well-timed and perfectly-placed shot from Lucas Raymond. But Jack Quinn, the hero of the last time these two teams squared off in a shootout, knotted it up at one apiece, before Levi stopped one from David Perron, and Alex Tuch sunk a second goal off of a backhand.
But man, leave it to Devon Levi to ice the game for the Sabres. Against Dylan Larkin, the rookie goaltender held firm, and did what he does best, winning the game for the Sabres as they have now accumulated 83 points on the season, their most since 2011-12 when they snagged 89.
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Unfortunately, despite the win, the Blue and Gold’s playoff chances have all but diminished, with the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders, and those pesky Florida Panthers all scoring blowout wins. But hey, this is a team, with five games to spare, threatening to hit 90 points for the first time in a decade if they can snag just seven more points. That’s pretty good for the league’s youngest team.
(Statistics provided by NHL.com)