7:00p ET, KeyBank Center
Buffalo, NY
TV: Fox Sports Detroit-Plus, MSG
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket/1270 AM
Sabre Blog: Die By The Blade
Welcome to the BATTLE OF THE BASEMENT.
Ladies and gentlemen, we’re entering uncharted territory here. There is an enormous section of the fanbase — including myself — that wasn’t alive or was simply too young to remember the last time the Red Wings found themselves in the basement of their division this late into the season.
Are the Wings really the worst team in the division? I don’t believe it. But right now they are what their records says they are (and the only team worse than them in the entire East is the Islanders).
Ken Holland has always preached that a team needs to be in or near a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving. After this Thursday, teams don’t really tend to make huge moves up or down the standings. Of course, there are the occurrences where it’s happened, but it’s not a regular event.
Bottom line… the Red Wings have dug themselves a huge hole.
So what’s next?
Tonight could be the beginning of an epic run. A dominant win against a bad Sabres team could be the jolt the Wings need to get back on track.
Or tonight we could get even closer to rock bottom. A loss to a bad team that sends the Wings spiraling out of control.
Either way, I, for one, am extremely fascinated to see what lies ahead and how Ken Holland is going to deal with it.
Detroit Expected Lineup
Forwards
| Justin Abdelkader | Henrik Zetterberg | Anthony Mantha |
| Tomas Tatar | Frans Nielsen | Luke Glendening |
| Gus Nyquist | Dylan Larkin | Thomas Vanek |
| Riley Sheahan | Steve Ott | Tyler Bertuzzi |
Defensemen
| Danny DeKeyser | Mike Green |
| Niklas Kronwall | Brendan Smith |
| Jonathan Ericsson | Ryan Sproul |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Drew Miller, Xavier Ouellet
Injuries: Andreas Athanasiou, Alexey Marchenko, Darren Helm
Sabres Expected Lineup
Forwards
| Evander Kane | Johan Larsson | Kyle Okposo |
| Marcus Foligno | Sam Reinhart | Brian Gionta |
| Zemgus Girgenso | Cal O’Reilly | Matt Moulson |
| Will Carrier | Derek Grant | Cole Schneider |
Defensemen
| Josh Gorges | Rasmus Ristolainen |
| Jake McCabe | Cody Franson |
| Taylor Fedun | Justin Falk |
Goaltenders
| Robin Lehner |
| Anders Nilsson |
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Game Day Prediction Contest
Would you like to predict the outcome of the game and potentially become internet famous? Well you’re in luck, because here’s your opportunity. Here’s how it works.
Make your game predictions on the winning team, final score, and who the Wings player of the game will be. Enter the required information into the form below using the formats indicated in the questions. If you don’t use those formats, your answers will be disregarded. All submissions are timestamped and will be accepted only until the official game start time. All other submissions after that will be disregarded. Only one submission per person, please. POTG will be determined by the collective of WiiM writers.
Each correct winning team prediction is worth 1 point. Each correct player of the game prediction is worth 2 points. Each correct final score prediction is worth 5 points. If you get all three correct you’ll receive 15 points.
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