The Wings had an optional skate in Buffalo this morning, so we’re going with what they skated yesterday, assuming that Smith and Tatar play despite soreness and illness; also assuming Richards not even being in Buffalo because of a family funeral means he’s out.
Line Combinations
Red Wings Lineup
Forwards
| Dylan Larkin | Henrik Zetterberg | Justin Abdelkader |
| Gustav Nyquist | Pavel Datsyuk | Darren Helm |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Jurco |
| Joakim Andersson | Luke Glendening | Teemu Pulkkinen |
Defensemen
| Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
| Brendan Smith | Mike Green |
| Jonathan Ericsson | Alexey Marchenko |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Brad Richards (personal reasons)
Injuries: Johan Franzen, Drew Miller, Niklas Kronwall
Power-play units:
- Nyquist-Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Abdelkader (net front)-Green
- Larkin-Tatar-Sheahan (net front) – Pulkinnen-Smith
Sabres Lineup
Forwards
| Evander Kane | Ryan O’Reilly | Matt Moulson |
| Cal O’Reilly | Jack Eichel | Jamie McGinn |
| Marcus Foligno | Johan Larsson | Brian Gionta |
| Phil Varone | Tim Schaller | David Legwand |
Defensemen
| Zach Bogosian | Rasmus Ristolainen |
| Jake McCabe | Cody Franson |
| Mike Weber | Mark Pysyk |
Goaltenders
| Robin Lehner (starting) |
| Chad Johnson |
Fun Facts!
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo is a grammatically correct sentence.
Brett Hull’s skate was in the crease, but the NHL didn’t care because that was a very boring Cup Final series and everybody just wanted it to be over.
Red Wings legend Dominik Hasek once played for the Sabres for a part of his career.
Key Matchups
Red Wings special teams vs the timeless march of the universe’s heat death
Beating the same drum over and over eventually gets tiring, but if you add up both teams’ special teams goal differentials, Detroit is -7 while Buffalo is +8. The Wings either need to fix this or they need to play a perfectly clean game.
Getting leads versus holding leads versus losing games
Neither team is that scary in regards to winning a huge percent of games they’ve lead after one or two periods, but we’re well overdue for a game where the Wings lead wire-to-wire and we can kind of relax and enjoy the fun. The 5-1 win over Arizona way back in 2015 is the last time we’ve gotten one of those.
Larkin vs. Eichel
duh
Let’s Go Red Wings.
