DETROIT _ The Detroit Red Wings are steadily establishing a home presence.
They won again at Little Caesars Arena, playing a patient, resilient game to overcome the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1, on Friday.
The Wings now have five points over three straight games at LCA, after having opened the building with a 2-2-1 record. Dylan Larkin secured the victory when he scored for a second straight game, with 4 minutes to go in regulation. Luke Glendening and Tomas Tatar each scored their fifth goals of the season.
Tatar gave the Wings the lead at 8:36 of the third period, when he dragged the puck across above the circles and then fired a shot through traffic while Justin Abdelkader battled down low.
Larkin created a breakaway early in the game but his shot clanked off a goalpost. Gustav Nyquist had two good chances, one on a breakaway when he shot wise, and another point-blank chance that Robin Lehner turned away. Shots were 8-6 to the Wings.
The Wings earned a power play at 2:49 of the second period when Jordan Nolan boarded Nick Jensen, and another at 4:23 when Evander Kane cross-checked Niklas Kronwall. Lehner made five saves during the entirety of the power play stretch, and Howard denied Nolan's shot right after he got out of the penalty box. The Wings had 21 shots after two periods, and eight were on power plays (the Sabres had 10 shots after two periods).
Glendening scored with 55 seconds remaining in the second period. Darren Helm whacked the puck across the paint and Glendening took a shot that Lehner stopped, but Glendening got a hold of his own rebound and stuffed a backhand to score for a second straight game.
The Sabres made it 1-1 at 5:50 of the third period, when Ryan O'Reilly fired a rebound into a wide open net, as Howard was too far out (from making the first stop) to recover, and Jensen wasn't able to clear the puck. The Wings challenged goaltender interference but a quick video review showed none.
