Morning Skate: Sabres at Red Wings
Game 46
8p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Buffalo Blog: Die By The Blade
What the hell do I write here?
Seriously.
I sure as hell hope the Red Wings can get up for the Sabres tonight more so than I can get up for writing this Morning Skate. I'm not kidding. The Sabres have lost 10 games-in-a-row! TEN! They've lost 14 of their last 15 games! Their only win came in a shootout against the Islanders. They haven't won a game in 2015. Hell, they haven't earned a point in 2015. So yeah…they're not good. Buffalo is in full tank for Connor McDavid mode right now.
Of course, the Wings are flying high. They've just finished off their 3rd straight win after returning home from decent road trip. Petr Mrazek is a boss. JJ, Graham and Michelle got to watch a kick ass game last night against the Predators. Hopefully they get to watch another one tonight as WIIM continues to takeover the Joe.
It's been a hell yeah week. So naturally this is a trap game, right? Or not? Maybe? Probably? I don't know. The Sabres are just that bad right now… and I'm not sure they really want to win? I have no idea. At this point I'm just writing to fill space. We get to watch Tyler Myers tonight. Do we still want to trade for him? Does Helene still think Tomas Tatar is trade bait? Laugh out loud. I hope Jakub Kindl's "wrist" never heals. I like having XO around. Xavier Ouellet and Brendan Smith are forming a nice 3rd pair for this team. I hope the Wings keep winning (they should) and take a bite out of the Sabres.
The Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Henrik Zetterberg | Pavel Datsyuk | Justin Abdelkader |
| Gustav Nyquist | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Tatar |
| Stephen Weiss | Darren Helm | Teemu Pulkkinen |
| Drew Miller | Luke Glendening | Joakim Andersson |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Xavier Ouellet | Brendan Smith |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Thomas McCollum |
Scratches: Brian Lashoff & Daniel Cleary
Injuries: Johan Franzen (headaches), Tomas Jurco (back), Jakub Kindl (still not his wrist), Jimmy Howard (groin) & Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder)
Forwards
| Brian Flynn | Zemgus Girgensons | Chris Stewart |
| Matt Moulson | Torrey Mitchell | Tyler Ennis |
| Cody Hodgson | Phil Varone | Drew Stafford |
| Nicolas Deslauriers | Matt Ellis | Patrick Kaleta |
Defensemen
| Tyler Myers | Josh Gorges |
| Nikita Zadorov | Rasmus Ristolainen |
| Mike Weber | Tyler Strachen |
Goaltenders
| Jhonas Enroth (starting) |
| Michal Nuevirth |
| SABRES | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 14-29-3 (31 pts; Last in NHL) | Record | 25-11-9 (59 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 1.72 (Last in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.82 (12th in NHL) |
| 3.48 (Last) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.31 (3rd) |
| 9.4% (Last) | Power Play % | 24.6% (3rd) |
| 74.4% (29th) | Penalty Kill % | 85.7% (5th) |
| Zemgus Girgensons (13 goals) | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (20 goals) |
| Tyler Ennis (25 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (37 points) |
- The Red Wings are 56-52-13-2 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Buffalo Sabres./
- Last 10 Games: Buffalo 0-10-0 (!!!!), Detroit 7-3-0/
- Petr Mrazek is 2-0-0 against the Sabres in his career with a fuck yeah GAA and a badass SV%. The kid is a baller./