BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Red Wings didn't get any treats for Halloween that's for sure.
Tage Thompson, the rising young Buffalo Sabres star, kept delivering the Wings whatever candy it was you hated to get going door to door (candy corn obviously a popular answer), on a frustrating night in Buffalo.
Thompson had three goals and three assists Monday leading the Sabres to an 8-3 victory over the Red Wings.
Dylan Larkin's shorthanded goal, his fifth goal, cut Buffalo's lead to 4-3 at 4 minutes, 19 seconds of the third period and gave the Wings some momentum. Larkin skated in on two-on-one rush and wanted to feed Andrew Copp. But the puck deflected back to Larkin, and he snapped a shot past goalie Eric Comrie.
But Thompson set up Rasmus Dahlin for a power-play goal at 12:53 of the third period, Dahlin's sixth goal, as Dahlin's shot deflected off Olli Maatta's skate and through goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.
After a Dylan Cozens goal made it 6-3, Thompson completed his Halloween hat trick with a nifty move in the slot and beating Nedeljkovic for his sixth goal (and 12th point) this season.
Rasmus Asplund mercifully ended the scoring for the Sabres.
Maatta (second goal) and David Perron (fifth goal) added Wings goals, as they dropped 4-3-2 on the young season. Nedeljkovic, under siege most of the evening, stopped 38 shots.
Thompson had a power-play goal among his two goals, and set up Jeff Skinner and Jack Quinn for goals, while former Red Wing (for a brief time) goaltender Comrie stopped 16 shots for the Sabres.
Thompson made two big plays toward the end of the second period that gave Buffalo some breathing room.
After Moritz Seider lost control of the puck in the corner, Thompson got the puck and fed Skinner in the slot. Skinner patiently flipped his 300th career goal, his second this season, past Nedeljkovic in the slot at 14:26, giving Buffalo a 3-1 lead.
The Wings promptly worked themselves into deep penalty trouble.
Gustav Lindstrom (holding the stick) and Ben Chiarot (delay of game) put Buffalo on a two-man advantage for 1:01 that Nedeljkovic made some solid saves to keep it 3-1. But with the Sabres still on a power play, Thompson skated into the slot and snapped his fifth goal of the season, at 18:30.
The Sabres appeared to be pulling away, but Perron gave the Wings hope with just under 57 seconds left. Joe Veleno, behind the net, found Perron open in the slot while a Buffalo defender was scrambling to get back up after falling near the crease, cutting Buffalo's lead to 4-2.
Coach Derek Lalonde talked about Buffalo's offensive potential after the morning skate.
"This team is really deep offensively," said Lalonde, an upstate New York native who had several friends in attendance. "They play fast, north, and we do not want to get into an up and down track meet, if you will. We'd like to have this look simiilar to the other night (Saturday's 2-1 win over Minnesota) and that will be challenging."
The Wings continue to play without five forwards who were expected to play considerable minutes - Tyler Bertuzzi (upper-body), Jakub Vrana (NHL/NHPA assistance program), Robby Fabbri (knee surgery), Oskar Sundqvist (upper-body, day-to-day) and Michael Rasmussen (two-game suspension, can return Thursday).
"We've been in a tough spot right now, and I said going into the Minnesota game I don't care who you are, anytime you take five of your top forwards out, it's not looking pretty," Lalonde said. "But we have a winnable lineup. I'm very confident in this lineup and that's a credit to what we did in the off-season.
"They went through this a couple of times last year and had no chance. We do.
"It's reality, I don't want to sound like a broken record but we have five of our top seven minute forwards out and you're going only to give yourself a chance if you manage your game and defend."
-------
