Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings faced a challenging night in their preseason split-squad games, losing to both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres. The veteran-heavy lineup fell 5-1 to the Penguins at Little Caesars Arena, while the prospect-heavy squad was defeated 4-3 in overtime by the Sabres at KeyBank Center.

In Detroit, the Red Wings struggled with their power play, failing to convert on three opportunities in the first period. The Penguins took advantage of their lone power-play chance when Drew O’Connor scored at 17:35. Lars Eller extended Pittsburgh's lead with a short-handed goal early in the second period. Lucas Raymond managed to narrow the gap with a power-play goal for Detroit.

“Obviously our power play was struggling,” said Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde. “It needs its reps. Their penalty kill played with a little more pace than our power play.”

Noel Acciari added two goals for Pittsburgh in the third period, and Vasily Ponomarev sealed the win with an empty-net goal. Detroit's goaltender Cam Talbot made nine saves before being replaced by Sebastian Cossa, who had eight saves.

In Buffalo, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard opened scoring for Detroit early in the first period. "It was a really nice feeling to just get that first goal," Brandsegg-Nygard said. Graham Slaggert quickly responded for Buffalo, tying the game.

Viktor Neuchev gave Buffalo a lead late in the first period, but Elmer Soderblom tied it again with a short-handed goal early in the third period. William Lagesson briefly put Detroit ahead before Slaggert scored another short-handed goal to send the game into overtime.

Konsta Helenius secured Buffalo's victory with an overtime power-play goal. "A lot of different emotions throughout the game," Soderblom said.

The Red Wings will visit Pittsburgh next at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night.