Red Wings Top Sabres in Overtime

It would have been understandable had Detroit suffered a letdown Friday night.

But the Red Wings had enough left to earn yet another overtime victory, this one a 2-1 decision over the slumping Buffalo Sabres on Larry Murphy’s goal 3 minutes, 10 seconds into the extra period at Detroit.

After Wednesday’s fight-filled, 6-5 overtime defeat of Colorado, nearly everyone was physically and emotionally spent.

“It would’ve been easy to come out tonight and get our butts kicked,” said Murphy, playing his fifth game since Detroit obtained him in a March 18 deal with Toronto. “The excitement wasn’t there because of everything that happened in the Colorado game.

“It was a difficult sort of game.”

Detroit had a 1-0 lead most of the way after Steve Yzerman’s power-play goal in the first period. But Matthew Barnaby scored Buffalo’s lone goal 14:03 into the third, sending both teams into their second overtime game in a row.

Murphy won it on a shot from the right point just inside the blue line. It deflected off goalie Steve Shields’ right pad and went between his legs, extending Detroit’s home unbeaten streak to eight (7-0-1).

San Jose 4, Edmonton 3--Owen Nolan and Darren Turcotte each scored two goals as the Sharks snapped a six-game home losing streak.

Edmonton took a 2-1 lead at 10:28 of the first period when Mats Lindgren scored a shorthanded goal after taking a crossing pass from Kelly Buchberger. San Jose tied it again on Nolan’s power-play goal at 14:53, and the Sharks took the lead on Turcotte’s goal at 18:16.

Nolan made it 4-2 with his 30th goal at 14:53 of the second period.

Edmonton goaltender Curtis Joseph entered the game with an 18-2 lifetime record against the Sharks.

Andrei Kovalenko scored his 31st goal with 2:49 left in the game for the final margin.