On to Buffalo, the land of Niagara Falls, the Bills, and hometown "heros" beating up cab drivers.
The Sabres were recently purchased by Terry Pegula and the new owner decided to open up his wallet. Unfortunately for him, the big name free agents signings were none other than former Red Wings healthy scratch VIlle Leino and former Canuck Christian Ehrhoff. The team also traded for defenseman Robyn Regher from Calgary.
And guess what?
The Sabres are boring (and average). I don't mean their style of play necessarily is boring, but I'm not excited. They have some good players -- Thomas Vanek to name one -- but meh. I just really don't care about this team. When I see Detroit vs Buffalo on the schedule I'm not jumping at excitement to watch this game. They tried to make a big splash this summer and what did they get? A couple decent defensemen and an overpaid bum.
What I'm really saying is that I don't hate the Sabres...I just don't care. Hey you killed the Buffa-slug...Tyler Myers is tall and stole Jimmy's Calder...Miller got run over by Lucic and you did nothing...Nathan Gerbe is short...Cool, man. Whatever. I just hope the Wings go into Buffalo tonight and just take care of business. Get the two points, get on the plane, and just get the job done. It's just another step towards the ultimate goal.
Die By The Blade is your SBNation Sabres' blog.
Puck drop is just after 7:30p ET
The Expected Lineup
Johan Franzen -- Pavel Datsyuk -- Todd Bertuzzi
Jiri Hudler -- Henrik Zetterberg -- Valtteri Filppula
Danny Cleary -- Darren Helm -- Chris Conner
Drew Miller -- Justin Abdelkader -- Tomas Holmstrom
Nicklas Lidstrom -- Ian White
Niklas Kronwall -- Jonathan Ericsson
Brad Stuart -- Jakub Kindl
Jimmy Howard
Ty Conklin
Scratches: Mike Commodore and Fabian Brunnstrom
Injured: Jan Mursak (ankle) and Patrick Eaves (jaw)
| RED WINGS | HOW THEY MATCH UP | SABRES |
| 15-7-1 | Record | 13-10-1 |
| 2.96 (T-7th) | Goals Per Game | 2.75 (13th) |
| 2.22 (6th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.58 (13th) |
| 19.4% (7th) | Power Play % | 18.4% (T-9th) |
| 80.2% (24th) | Penalty Kill % | 87.6% (5th) |
| Johan Franzen (10 goals) | Goal Leader | Thomas Vanek (12 goals) |
| Johan Franzen (23 points) | Points Leader | Thomas Vanek (27 points) |
- The Red Wings are 48-52-13-1 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time against the Sabres.
- A lot of injuries for Buffalo: Brad Boyes (right leg), Patrick Kaleta (groin), Tyler Ennis (ankle) and Cody McCormick (upper body), Jordan Leopold (upper body), Mike Weber (upper body) and Tyler Myers (wrist) are all out.
- Mike Babcock, Nashville's Barry Trotz, and Buffalo's Lindy Ruff are the only coaches that have been with their respective teams since the lockout.
- Drew's big brother Ryan Miller in ne won't be in net. He's still out with a kinda-but-not-really-a-concussion neck injury after being decapitated by Milan Lucic. Jhonas Enroth will likely get the start. This season he's 8-4-1 with a 2.27 GAA and .926 SV%.
- Ville Leino has a $4.5M cap hit and has 2 goals, 4 assists and is a minus-5 in 24 games this season. HA. HA.
Prediction: Wings have more talent than the Sabres even before all their injuries. I don't want to say it's going to be easy, but I'd be surprised if the Wings don't put up four goals. Wings win 4-1 and Henrik Zetterberg is your player of the game.
Let's Go Red Wings.