DETROIT — The hockey world, including the Detroit Red Wings, swear by the ancient wisdom that to win big games your best players have to be your best players.

But Saturday night the Red Wings showed what happens when you best players are also your worst players. The same Detroit players who created a 4-1 lead were the culprits who allowed the Buffalo Sabres to score four unanswered goals to inexplicably record a 5-4 overtime win.

This is a Sabres team that hasn’t qualified for the NHL playoffs since 2011. This is a Sabres group that came to a Detroit on a five-game losing streak. The Sabres had lost eight of their last nine.  The OT win marks the first time the Sabres have rallied from a three-goal deficit to win since 2018.

“(Go) all the way back to Traverse City (training camp),” Coach Todd McLellan said. “…We started talking about game management and learning how to play certain situations. Clearly, we haven’t learned that yet.”

Ugly Night

McLellan’s post-game press conference was like a controlled burn, a mixture of anger and a determination to fix this or else.

Alex DeBrincat was on the ice for six goals — two goals he scored and four Buffalo goals. Lucas Raymond had three assists and was on the ice for three Buffalo goals. Dylan Larkin was on the ice for three Detroit goals and three by Buffalo. Moritz Seider boasted two assists and had two giveaways that resulted in goals. Alex Tuch swiped the puck from Seider when he was trying to move the puck out of danger and promptly scored Buffalo’s first goal on goalie John Gibson.

Nobody received a free pass from McLellan this night.

“It’s just what’s happening in certain moments,” McLellan said. “Like we have D that are joining a rush. We’re up by two with seven minutes left and it’s a risky rush. That makes no sense to me. We have penalty kill and we’re throwing pucks back toward our end…and turning it over for a breakaway.”

Why Didn’t Edvinsson Defend?

McLellan was particularly displeased by Tage Thompson’s goal at 4:25 into the third period. That cut Detroit’s lead to 4-3.  Thompson drove through Alex DeBrincat and six-foot-six defenseman Simon Edvinsson didn’t cut him off. Thompson beat Gibson for his eighth goal of the season.

“He let (five-foot-eight) Cat take their 50-goal scorer who is 6-foot-7 instead of him coming to play,” McLellan said.

Later in the period, Edvinsson took a penalty and Jonatan Berggren served it. Edvinsson left the bench. He returned but didn’t play. McLellan said after the game that Edvinsson is “fine.”

With Detroit on a power play, clinging to a 4-3 lead, in the middle of a third period, Ryan McLeod swept the puck away from Seider just inside the blue line and raced down the ice to score a shorthanded breakaway goal.

“Giving up a shorty is, when the momentum’s starting to swing their way,” McLellan said “That’s a Bermuda Triangle death trap.

When Buffalo cut the lead to two goals late in second period, the momentum shifted and the Red Wings couldn’t get it back.

When Detroit built a three-goal lead, it felt as if the Red Wings had the game under control. Everyone was going to add some points. Maybe Nate Danielson would get his first NHL goal. But none of that happened because the Red Wings couldn’t close it out. It’s an old, tiresome story.

“That (three-goal lead) should be a fun time to play hockey,” Detroit forward Patrick Kane said. “You lock it down. They’re an offensive team with defensemen who can jump in. You do your job defensively and you are going to end up getting odd man rushes the other. We had a couple of those but didn’t make the most of them.”

McLellan talked about all of this with his players earlier this week. He said the key was the players retaining the lessons that were taught in those practices. That clearly didn’t happen. The Red Wings will have a difficult time making the playoffs if that doesn’t happen quickly.