BUFFALO – Early in Saturday’s overtime, Sabres center Tage Thompson used his 10-inch, 40-pound size advantage to knock Alex DeBrincat to the ice after the Detroit Red Wings star blocked his shot in the right circle.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Thompson grabbed the puck and backhanded it to defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, who beat goalie John Gibson to secure the Sabres’ unlikely 5-4 win in Detroit.
Three-on-three overtime, of course, rarely features much physicality. But Thompson, whose Sabres erased a three-goal deficit, saw an opportunity to impose his will.
“An incredible amount of will,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told reporters in Detroit after the Sabres ended their five-game losing streak (0-4-1). “If you look at what he did in overtime, he almost threw him through the end of the rink.”
Thompson knew the Sabres, having lost four games in overtime this season, had to showcase desperation.
“We’ve been in a lot of overtime games and been on the other side of it,” he said. “Loose puck there, if I get the puck, then we got a really good look. I figured I’d look off (Rasmus Dahlin) and go to Sammy, he’s got the hot stick.”
Tage bodies his man and passes it off to Samuelsson to win it in overtime, 5-4. Need Tage playing like this more often than not. #LetsGoBuffalo #LGRW pic.twitter.com/AWB1trsqe9
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) November 16, 2025
When the Sabres trailed – DeBrincat’s power-play goal 8:50 into the second made it 4-1 – Ruff said he told his players, “Our desperation has to be greater than theirs if were gonna get back.”
“We talked about this isn’t screaming and yelling at each other, it’s about we got to do it for each other,” said Ruff, whose Sabres open a four-game home stand Monday against superstar Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers at KeyBank Center. “And I thought the guys went out and did a hell of a job.”
Winger Josh Doan scored 17:58 into the second period to give the Sabres some momentum entering the intermission before Thompson’s goal 4:25 into the third moved them within one.
“In the third, we were just desperate,” Thompson said. “We’ve been losing a lot of games, and it’s frustrating. We know no one is going to sit there and feel sorry for us. I think we just tried to impose our will, and knew that if we got one early, put them on their heels a little bit, we could get some momentum going.”
Winger Ryan McLeod’s short-handed breakaway goal at 9:28 tied the game.
“Ill tell you a story, he wasn’t even supposed to be out there,” Ruff said. “(Jordan) Greenway was going, but I guess McLeod called him off. So I said, ‘McLeod’s not supposed to be out there!’ And then we got the breakaway, I said, ‘It might be OK.’”
The Sabres hadn’t overcome a three-goal deficit and won since a 5-4 overtime road victory Nov. 19, 2018 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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Dahlin, the Sabres’ captain and top defenseman, skated a whopping 27 minutes, 5 seconds against Detroit in his first outing after taking a leave of absence for a week to visit his fiancée, Carolina Matovac, in Sweden.
Matovac underwent a heart transplant in the summer.
“I think more than anything, the guys wanted to win this game for him,” Ruff said. “He’s been through a lot. I didn’t know what to expect, to fly in here and get in last night and play. I mean, he’s been on the ice, but you’re on the ice in a lot more casual sense.
“And I think there was times inside the game he wasn’t up to speed, but he gave it everything he had, and I thought (it was an) impressive showing by him.”
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The Sabres lost defenseman Michael Kesselring to a lower-body injury after he hit Emmitt Finnie about halfway through Saturday’s game.
“My initial thoughts, it doesn’t look good,” Ruff said on Kesselring’s status.
Kesselring, 25, played two shifts – one later in the second period and another early in the third – before leaving the game.
The American, the Sabres’ biggest offseason acquisition, missed the first nine game this season with a lower-body injury.
Kesselring went for a hit and looked to tweak/hurt something. I dont like the way that looked …#LetsGoBuffalo #LGRW pic.twitter.com/CSNayZMgcG
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) November 16, 2025
Notes: Ruff utilized two defensemen during overtime. “We haven’t been very successful with two forwards,” he said. “… You look at three or four guys on the back end, they’re good players three-on-three.” … The Sabres, whose penalty killing ranks first in the NHL, killed a too many men call late in the third period. “That might be one of the worst calls I’ve seen, and that’s my opinion,” Ruff said. “But to get a call like that on a dump-in, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that.” … The Sabres had Sunday off.