BUFFALO — Kyle Okposo scored a hat trick, and the Buffalo Sabers won their fifth straight, 6-3 against the Detroit Red Wings at KeyBank Center on Thursday.
It was their first game since Dec. 19 after a severe blizzard in Buffalo forced two games to be postponed.
“Special night, for sure,” Okposo said. “The atmosphere was incredible and right from warmups. First period we were buzzing, and it just felt good to play a game at home and after everything that happened this weekend. All the lives lost, all the families that had to go through what they did, the first responders to all the people with plows and snowmobiles.
“Just to play in this city and feel like we’re a part of the community, we’re trying to become part of the glue that helps this community heal and holds this community together. We tried to go show that on the ice tonight “
Casey Mittelstadt scored twice, and JJ Peterka and Owen Power each had two assists for the Sabers (17-14-2). Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 28 saves.
Video: DET@BUF: Okposo nets hat trick in win over Red Wings
Dominik Kubalik had two goals, Jonatan Berggren had two assists, and Magnus Hellberg made 29 saves for the Red Wings (15-12-7), who rallied from four goals down to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 in overtime Wednesday.
“I think we let them play their game and we defended too much against a high-skilled offensive team,” Detroit captain Dylan 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 them. [defensemen]”
Mittelstadt gave the Sabers a 1-0 lead at 15:32 of the first period. Three seconds after their power play expired, Peterka’s shot from the right face-off circle deflected off the Red Wings defenseman. Jake Wallman over to Mittelstadt on the doorstep.
Jeff Skinner intercepted a pass by a Detroit defenseman Filip Hronek in the slot to make it 2-0 at 1:20 of the second period. He has five goals in a four-game goal streak and 12 goals in the past 12 games.
Mittelstadt pushed it to 3-0 on the power play at 10:28 when his pass attempt from the slot was intended for Jack Quinn hit Hronek’s stick and went in stick side on Hellberg.
“It’s nice,” Mittelstadt said. “And obviously to get one in the first period, I think, after kind of a long break, it kind of snaps you back into things. And it’s good to get the boys going too. … The crowd was just awesome. I think they really helped us get back into it.”
Video: DET@BUF: Mittelstadt caps off a nice passing play
Okposo extended it to 4-0 just 53 seconds later, scoring from the low slot at 11:21 and was uncovered in the left circle to make it 5-0 at 14:02.
“You can’t give them easy offense,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “In the second, we literally had three pucks on our stick that ended up in the slot on their stick, and that was just too easy for them.”
Kubalik scored from the bottom of the left circle to cut it to 5-1 at 2:35 of the third period after taking a backhand feed from Elmer Soderblomand he one-timed a feed on the power play Joe Veleno at the bottom of the right circle to make it 5-2 at 4:23.
“Scoring always feels good but with the end result, it’s not nice, so it’s nothing to be happy about,” Kubalik said.
Jordan Oesterle narrowed it to 5-3 from the right circle at 7:11.
Okposo completed his third NHL hat trick with an empty-net goal at 16:22 for the 6-3 final.
“I think it’s very symbolic,” Sabers coach Don Granato said. “This is a guy that has embedded himself and his family in this community. What the community is going through, has just gone through in the last nine days that we’ve been off, is significant. … To have a guy like ‘Okie ‘that loves this community score three I felt was appropriate.
“We do what we love every day, to be able to play hockey, to coach hockey. And to do it in a community, you feel that they support this team, you can have that return, it’s nice. So very happy for ‘ Okie’ and the rest of the guys for what they did tonight.”
NOTES: Red Wings goalie Ville Husso missed the game with an illness. … The Sabers have won five straight for the first time since a 10-game winning streak from Nov. 8-27, 2018. … Okposo’s hat trick was his first since Feb. 7, 2016, with the New York Islanders. … Okposo is the third player in Buffalo history with a hat trick at age 34 or older, joining Eddie Shack (34, twice in 1970-71) and Gilbert Perreault (34 in 1984-85 and 35 in 1985-86). … Power played 21:08 and Sabers defenseman Jacob Bryson played 12:26; each missed the previous three games with a lower-body injury. … Power and Peterka are the first two Sabers rookies with at least two points in the same game since Cody Hodgson and Marcus Foligno on March 19, 2012. … It was the first time two Buffalo rookies each had multiple assists in a game since Nov. 12, 1991 (Kevin Haller, Ken Sutton, Brad May).
.