Morning Skate: Red Wings at Sabres Preview
Game 79
7:00p ET, First Niagara Center
Buffalo, NY
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Sabres Blog: Die By The Blade
If you lose this game, you don't deserve to make the playoffs.
The Expected Lineup
Forwards
| Johan Franzen | Pavel Datsyuk | Justin Abdelkader |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Gustav Nyquist |
| Darren Helm | David Legwand | Daniel Alfredsson |
| Drew Miller | Luke Glendening | Tomas Jurco |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Brendan Smith |
| Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
| Brian Lashoff | Jakub Kindl |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Jonas Gustavsson |
Scratches: Todd Bertuzzi & Joakim Andersson
Injuries: Jonathan Ericsson (finger), Daniel Cleary (knee), Stephen Weiss (groin), Henrik Zetterberg (back) & Mikael Samuelsson (who cares)
| SABRES | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 21-48-9 (51 pts; 30th in NHL) | Record | 37-27-14 (88 pts; 1st in WC Race) |
| 1.83 (30th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.64 (17th in NHL) |
| 2.95 (25th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.74 (19th) |
| 14.6% (28th) | Power Play % | 18.2% (13th) |
| 81.2% (20th) | Penalty Kill % | 83.4% (9th) |
| Tyler Ennis (21 goals) | Goal Leader | Gustav Nyquist (28 goals) |
| Tyler Ennis (42 points) | Points Leader | 2 tied with 48 points |
Opponent Outlook
Player to Fear: Guess you have to got with Ennis here.
X-Factor: Whomever starts between the pipes.
Familiar Faces: Ville Leino.
Thumbs up (One Thing to Like About Buffalo): Wings.
Thumbs down (One Thing to Dislike About Buffalo): Their 3rd jerseys.
Bullets of Knowledge
- Last 10 games: Buffalo 2-7-1. Detroit 6-3-1./
- Howard is 5-0-0 with a 1.28 GAA, .950 SV% with 1 shutout in 6 career apperances against Buffalo./
Prediction: Sharpen the swords.
Let's Go Red Wings.