Sabres End the Red Wings’ Win Streak in 4-2 Victory

The Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres squared off for the first time in the 2025-26 regular season in Buffalo tonight (Oct.22). The Red Wings entered the contest on a five-game win streak while the Sabres looked to get themselves rolling after struggling to start the season. In a back-and-forth game, the Sabres ended the Red Wings’ win streak by pulling out a 4-2 victory.

Game Recap

Two early Red Wings penalties in the opening five minutes of the first period gave the Sabres plenty of opportunities to take an early lead. They did get a handful of strong chances on Red Wings netminder John Gibson, but he stood tall to help keep his team out of an early hole, killing off both penalty kills. The Sabres continued to hold the momentum through the first half of the opening period, holding the Red Wings without a shot until just over 10 minutes into the game. Colten Ellis, who made his NHL debut in the game, was not challenged a lot until the final minutes, making a big stop on Marco Kasper on a breakaway chance to keep the game at a 0-0 tie through 20 minutes of play. Gibson stayed plenty busy for the Red Wings, stopping 11 shots.

The Red Wings kicked off the scoring three minutes into the second period with JT Compher scoring his first of the season after a shot by Jonatan Berggren rebounded out to the point on a rush. Albert Johansson’s shot from the point then rebounded out to Compher in front of the net, and a nice move beat Ellis to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. That lead stood for just over 10 minutes until Jason Zucker scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season for the Sabres off a nice back-and-forth play on a two-on-one with Jack Quinn to even things at one apiece with just over eight minutes to play in the middle stanza. Five minutes later, Tyson Kozak was the beneficiary of a nice move by Quinn in the slot for a quick shot to beat Gibson to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead until Emmitt Finnie scored with just under two minutes left in the period off a great pass from Dylan Larkin from the corner to end the second period at a 2-2 tie.