Claimed off waivers from St. Lous earlier this month, Ellis stopped two breakaways and withstood a flurry of shots after Detroit pulled goalie John Gibson with about three minutes left.
Buffalo’s Tyson Kozak scored for the second straight game and Jason Zucker had a goal before leaving in the second period with an upper-body injury. Josh Doan also scored for the Sabres.
J.T. Compher and Emmitt Finnie scored for Detroit, which had won five straight. Gibson had 27 saves and Dylan Larkin had an assist to become the first Detroit defenceman with a season-opening points streak of seven games since Brian Rafalski in 2008-09.
Ellis became the eighth Nova Scotia-born goalie in NHL history and the ninth goalie in Sabres history to win his NHL debut. The 25-year-old didnâ€t face a shot in the opening 10 minutes, but stopped Marco Kasper on a breakaway late in the first period.
Ellis stopped Larkin on another breakaway early in the second period before Compher beat him on a nifty move, corralling a pass from Albert Johansson and whipping it to his forehand.
Zucker scored on a 2-on-1 with Quinn midway through the second and Kozak made it 2-1 after a short pass from Quinn.
Finnie tied it late in the period by charging to the front of the net and one-timing a pass from Larkin.
Quinn scored from between the circles early in the third period and Doan beat Gibson from the left circle to make it 4-2.
Detroit: Plays at the New York Islanders on Thursday.
Buffalo: Hosts Toronto on Friday.
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