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The Breakdown: Red Wings, Nedeljkovic Bounce Back

Red Wings are 2-1-1 four games into five-game homestand

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Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings
Red Wings D Moritz Seider was okay after taking a puck off the ankle.

For the Detroit Red Wings, Wednesday’s game with the Buffalo Sabres went from bad, to worse, to almost unbearable . . . and then it didn’t turn out to be all that bad.

The Red Wings fell behind 4-1, then briefly lost defenseman Moritz Seider in the second period after he was hit with a Tage Thompson shot in the left ankle.

Seider came back, and so did the Red Wings. Rallying with three unanswered third-period goals, Detroit eventually was dropping a 5-4 shootout setback to the Sabres at Little Caesars Arena.

“You just don’t come back from three goals in this league,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “And the way we did it. I really thought the fight back started at the end of the second.

“Down 4-1, it obviously wasn’t going our way and our guys just dug in. Really proud of the group.”

Jonatan Beggren’s second NHL goal put Detroit up 1-0 just 1:20 following the opening faceoff. Then it was all Sabres for most of the next 39 minutes.

Red Wings, Nedeljkovic, Rally From Poor Start

In the third period, David Perron, and then Oskar Sundqvist with a pair of goals, pulled the Red Wings even. But Jack Quinn scored the only goal of the shootout to give Buffalo the win.

“You’re supposed to be, I don’t know about happy but be satisfied with the way we came back,” Red Wings center Andrew Copp said. “From 4-1 down it’s a good sign. But it still sucks right now that we didn’t get the next point.”

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Making his first start in goal since November 12, Nedeljkovic came roaring back from a difficult first period to finish solidly. A couple of questionable goals were leaking through him in the first period, but he was better after that slow beginning.

I think there might be one or two that he wants back, but after that he responded really well and made some big saves,” Copp said. “I’m happy for him in that aspect, because that’s hard. When things aren’t going each individual guy’s way, it’s kind of like us tonight. It’s about how your respond. He responded very well tonight I thought.”

Facts And Observations

  1. Detroit went 0-for-7 on the power play, including a 5-on-3 for 1:26, and is now mired in an 0-for-10 skid with the man advantage
  2. Sundqvist recorded his first multi-goal game since netting two for St. Louis vs Colorado on Jan. 13, 2021
  3. With two assists, Red Wings D Filip Hronek posted his fourth multi-point game in the past five
  4. The Red Wings finished 47-of-69 (68.1%) at the faceoff circle. Michael Rasmussen went 8-for-10 (80.0%) on the draw, while Copp won 15-for-19 (79.0%) attempts and Dylan Larkin went 17-of-24 (70.8%) at the dot
  5. Perron has collected 2-7-9 totals in his last nine games