Morning Skate: Sabres vs Red Wings
7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, Michigan
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Sabres Blogs: Die By The Blade
Six goals and a record of 0-2-4 over the last six games. 100% unacceptable by even the worst of NHL team standards. Call it what you want, but the team isn't getting lucky, and they are not playing up to par to what their able to do. But let's keep positive. The team's shooting percentage over the last heap of games has been atrocious, and it's only bound to get better from here. It's a slump. They'll get out of it, but I am still terrified of them playing down to Buffalo tonight.
Detroit needs to find scoring from players outside of the big names. Tomas Jurco, Johan Franzen, Gustav Nyquist, and Darren Helm, hell even Tomas Tatar all need to get back on the train and start doing the score stuff. The Sabres are a team who, while aren't good, have been playing drastically approved hockey as of late. So if Detroit comes out and plays down to them in the first 20 or 40 minutes, it might bite them hard. I believe that Babcock will make the necessary changes to get this train back on the tracks, but it's not going to come easy. Tonight is a great chance for the team to bounce back. It is a winnable game, like many of the last six... But they simply have to finish.
The Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Henrik Zetterberg | Pavel Datsyuk | Justin Abdelkader |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Jurco |
| Gustav Nyquist | Darren Helm | Johan Franzen |
| Drew Miller | Luke Glendening | Stephen Weiss |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
| Brendan Smith | Jakub Kindl |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Brian Lashoff, Joakim Andersson, Daniel Cleary
Injuries: Jimmy Howard, Jonas Gustavsson
Forwards
| Drew Stafford | Zemgus Girgensons | Tyler Ennis |
| Brian Flynn | Marcus Foligno | Brian Gionta |
| Cody Hodgson | Mikhail Grigorenko | Chris Stewart |
| Johan Larsson | Tim Schaller | Nicolas Deslauriers |
Defensemen
| Josh Gorges | Rasmus Ristolainen |
| Nikita Zadorov | Mark Pysyk |
| Andre Benoit | Andrej Meszaros |
Goaltenders
| Jhonas Enroth (starting) |
| Michal Neuvirth |
Opponent Outlook
Player to Fear: Tyler Ennis. Very good player, has scored some ridiculous goals this season.
X-Factor: Jhonas Enroth. He's been hot over his last 10 starts with a record of 7-2-1
Familiar Faces: No one. Everyone is stupid.
Stuff to think about:
- The Red Wings have scored six goals in the last six games. That has to get better... Right...?
- Buffalo isn't a great team, but they have been playing fantastic hockey as of late. I am terrified of Detroit playing down to them.
- There is a good chance Jimmy Howard and Stephen Weiss could play tonight.. Will have updates after the actual morning skate.