Red Wings 6, Sabres 4
Captain Henrik Zetterberg recorded his sixth career hat trick and added an assist as Detroit rallied from a three-goal deficit to hand visiting Buffalo its 11th consecutive loss.
Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar each registered a goal and an assist while Drew Miller scored for the first time in 26 games as the Red Wings won their fourth straight. Defenseman Danny DeKeyser set up two tallies and Tom McCollum made seven saves in relief to notch his first NHL victory after starter Petr Mrazek stopped only 4-of-7 shots.
Tyler Ennis - who also had an assist - scored his second goal of the game 8:31 into the third period to close the gap to 5-4 for the Sabres before Zetterberg completed his hat trick from the right faceoff circle with 8:01 left. Drew Stafford and Chris Stewart also tallied for Buffalo, defenseman Nikita Zadorov registered two assists and Jhonas Enroth made 20 saves.
Miller scored from the slot on a spin-around shot at 4:07 of the second and Tatar tied it at 3-3 by pouncing on a turnover in front of the net six minutes later. Zetterberg knocked in a rebound at the left post during a delayed penalty 1:59 into the third and expanded the lead to 5-3 by converting Nyquist's feed in the slot while on the power play at 5:05.
Stafford scored from the slot 1:46 into the contest and Ennis doubled the lead at 10:21, when his shot from the bottom of the right circle deflected off a Detroit defender's stick and under Mrazek. Stewart redirected Ennis’ shot during a power play with 6:23 left in the first before Nyquist swatted in a rebound 60 seconds into the middle session while on the man advantage.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Zetterberg moved past Norm Ullman (758) for seventh place on the Red Wings’ all-time list with 761 points. … Buffalo D Tyson Strachan left after taking a puck to the side of the face before Nyquist’s goal early in the second period but returned later in the session. … McCollum was making his second appearance in the NHL and first since playing 15 minutes against St. Louis on March 30, 2011.