Mike Harrington: Out of nowhere, Sabres pulled out win in Detroit. Is it a blip or can it spark something?
Tage Thompson: "In the third (period) we were just desperate ... We know no one is going to sit there and feel sorry for us. We just tried to impose
Now what?
The Buffalo Sabres' first road win of the season was a wild one Saturday night in Little Caesars Arena. They made a 4-1 deficit late in the second period go poof in the night and pulled out a 5-4 overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings as Tage Thompson bowled over Alex DeBrincat and fed Mattias Samuelsson for the game-winning goal at 1:03 of the extra period.
General manager Kevyn Adams remains far from safe after this one and surely should still be boning up his resume. But the feeling is a whole lot different now than it would be if the Sabres had completed an 0-4 road trip with a blowout loss.
Now they have Rasmus Dahlin back after his leave of absence. They have Thompson coming off what might rate as his most physically dominant performance of the season and Colten Ellis earning his second win off another tough-minded effort in goal. They have keystones like Alex Tuch, Josh Doan and Ryan McLeod all scoring goals.
The Sabres are 6-8-4, still last in the Atlantic and the East. But they're two points behind Toronto and three behind Florida. Gotta scratch and claw past one team at a time.
They have their first comeback from three goals down to win since 2018 in Pittsburgh. And they have to parlay that momentum with the next four games at home, beginning Monday against Edmonton. Hmmmm.
Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, celebrating a goal against Toronto earlier this season in KeyBank Center, got the overtime winner Saturday in Detroit.
Joed Viera, Buffalo News
"In the third (period), we were just desperate," Thompson said. "We've been losing a lot of games and it's frustrating. We know no one is going to sit there and feel sorry for us. We just tried to impose our will there.
"It's an attitude. It's got to be everybody in the room. It can't be one or two guys. In between periods, we all just said enough's enough. It can't just be words. It has to be actions."
There were plenty of actions as, for once, the prime-time players made big-time plays.
Samuelsson made the final one after Thompson dominated DeBrincat.
"Incredible what he did to the guy in overtime," coach Lindy Ruff said of Thompson. "He almost threw him through the end of the rink. It has to be our will. Our desperation has to be greater than theirs."
"He's a big strong guy holding on to the puck there and makes a really nice play," Samuelsson said. "I was just the lucky one to come off the bench there to be wide open. He was a dog tonight."
The Sabres didn't have a lot of bite during Detroit's three-goal second period. But the third period of this game, the first 30 minutes of the loss in Utah and the ill-fated comeback from two goals down in Colorado show the kind of hockey this team is capable of.
"The second (period) I think we gave them a couple freebies," Samuelsson said. "I think everyone was pretty (ticked) after the second and knowing you're down like that, you've got nothing to lose really. So go out and play and fight, have a little bit of (fire) in your game and that's the result."
The Sabres also benefited hugely from Dahlin's return from attending medical appointments with his fiancee in Sweden in the wake of her summer heart transplant. He played 27:05 and had two assists.
"He's our captain, our leader. We obviously missed him but there's obviously things bigger than hockey," Samuelsson said. "He was in a great mood when he came back, fired up to be back."
"It's huge for our group," McLeod said. "We missed him when he was gone. It was amazing having him back, he's in good spirits, so we're super-happy."
Of course, it feels like there's always a bummer in every Sabres game and this one was no different.
The game was nearly lost on a too many men on the ice penalty with 2:33 left but Ellis made a couple of saves to preserve the score. Afterward, Ruff was still perturbed by the call as the Sabres did have too many men but the puck had been dumped into the zone and the skaters coming and going by the bench made no difference in the play.
There was yet another injury as defenseman Michael Kesselring played one shift in the last nine minutes of the second period and just 24 seconds of the third due to a lower-body injury. He was seen in a walking boot after the game.
"My initial thought is it doesn't look good but we'll see," Ruff said.
That's another potential hurdle for the Sabres to overcome. Heading into Saturday with just one win in the previous nine games, they need a streak in the other direction. Fast. Show the kind of mental toughness we saw in the final 24 minutes of this game. It's required.
But this group has fooled us before and let's not forget they're still just 2-4-4 in the last 10 games. It makes it tough to believe. At least Saturday, the Sabres stopped feeling sorry for themselves and took a stand. Now they need to do it again.