Red Wings stage furious rally again but fall short in Buffalo, 6-3

Buffalo − The Red Wings almost did it again.

They fell behind by a large margin, staged a furious rally, but this time fell a short Thursday, as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Wings 6-3.

Buffalo led 5-0 after two periods before the Wings roared back to cut the deficit to 5-3 on two Dominik Kubalik goals and a Jordan Oesterle tally.

But Buffalo's Kyle Okposo completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal at 16 minutes, 22 seconds, giving Buffalo the three-goal lead.

"We just ran out of time," captain Dylan Larkin said. "We gave up too much early in the game and a lot of times we shot ourselves in the foot and didn't defend well enough, giving them easy chances."

You sure sensed something was brewing after Oesterle's goal, the Wings' third goal in 3:46 early in the third period.

But this time, the Wings' issues through 40 minutes proved too much to overcome.

"You try to push because we know we did it the night before, so there's no reason not to do it again," Kubalik said. "We had some scoring chances in the beginning, too, and we just didn't capitalize. A couple of mistakes ended up in our net, so we learned a little lesson."

Maybe this was best for the city of Buffalo, and this region of New York, which has endured a gargantuan blizzard in the last week and are just now digging out of it.

Thursday's game against the Red Wings was the first major event around the Buffalo area and brought a sense of normalcy and relief back to people.

BOX SCORE: Sabres 6, Red Wings 3

The Wings played the perfect opponent through 40 minutes but made Buffalo fans very uneasy with their second dramatic comeback in two days.

"The third period we had some pushes, at 5-3 you could feel a little push and we had our looks, but it just didn't go in for us," coach Derek Lalonde said. "The goalie pull, we had looks and got what we wanted, but it just didn't go behind them."

Lalonde talked before the game about not allowing the explosive Sabres easy, quality scoring chances. But that's exactly what the Wings wound up doing too often.

"Easy offense, way too easy offense," Lalonde said. "We probably didn't give them a ton of chances but what we did is exactly in their playbook. In the second (period) we literally had three pucks on our stick that ended up in the slot on their sticks.

"Just too easy for them."

Magnus Hellberg got the start in net with Ville Husso ill, and made 29 saves.

More:Derek Lalonde has mixed emotions as Red Wings visit blizzard-ravaged Buffalo

Buffalo displayed its quick strike offense early and often through 40 minutes.

While Okposo had his three goals, Casey Mittelstadt scored twice (one a power play) and Jeff Skinner added the other goal.

Mittelstadt opened the scoring, putting in a loose puck after JJ Peterka's one-timer landed in the crease and Mittelstadt tapped the puck past Hellberg at 15:32 of the first period.

It stayed 1-0 after one period, but Buffalo exploded for four goals in the middle frame.

"They're a team that will have some puck possession, that's who they are," Lalonde said. "Even in the first, we only gave up three chances, we owned the middle of the ice and we defended well. We had the puck in the slot and had Grade A chances and didn't cash in. But again, there's too much skill on that team and you give them easy offense, which we did, and you have no chance."

Skinner made it 2-0 at 1:20 of the second period, his 17th goal, converting a shot after the puck bobbled off Filip Hronek's stick straight to Skinner in the slot.

Mittelstadt got credit for his second goal, at 10:28, after Hronek knocked the puck past Hellberg, giving Buffalo a 3-0 lead.

Okposo scored the next goals, giving him five for the season, both goals the direct result of Buffalo's fourth line supplying a strong forecheck and getting the puck to Okposo alone in front.

"They played their game and we defended too much against a highly skilled offensive team," Larkin said. "They went through the neutral zone pretty easily, they pretty much did what they wanted the first 40 minutes. The last 20, we got on the forecheck and made it hard on their defense.

"We just them to do what they wanted with the puck and their big guys got the puck and skated through us. We were way better in the third, we were winning battles, but we just didn't get enough goals."

ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tkulfan