Red Wings vs. Sabres — Gameday Updates, Lineups and Keys to the Game

Wings look to halt six-game losing streak against red hot Sabres

Jamie Zadow

• 3 min read Front Page

Gameday Updates

And, from the morning skate, it looks like the Red Wings could be down two forwards tonight. Plus, Danny DeKeyser did not skate today and it looks like he will miss his second straight game.

He corrected Daley’s partner to be Nemeth.

Injury updates:

Looks like Jimmy Howard will get the start tonight against the Sabres.

Lineups

Red Wings

Forwards

Tyler Bertuzzi — Dylan Larkin — Darren Helm

Andreas Athanasiou — Valtteri Filppula — Anthony Mantha

Taro Hirose — Frans Nielsen — Evgeny Svechnikov

Christoffer Ehn — Jacob de la Rose — Givani Smith

Defense

Filip Hronek — Mike Green

Patrik Nemeth — Trevor Daley

Madison Bowey — Dennis Cholowski

Goalies

Jimmy Howard

Jonathan Bernier

Sabres

Forwards

Victor Olofsson — Jack Eichel — Sam Reinhart

Jeff Skinner — Marcus Johansson — Vladimir Sobotka

Zemgus Girgensons — Johan Larsson — Kyle Okposo

Jimmy Vesey — Casey Mittelstadt — Conor Sheary

Defense

Jake McCabe — Rasmus Ristolainen

Rasmus Dahlin — Colin Miller

Marco Scandella — Henri Jokiharju

Goalies

Linus Ullmark

Carter Hutton

Keys to the Game

1. Commit to a Game Plan

The Wings are on a real bender right now having lost six straight games, the type of losing streak that we’ve seen many coaches over the years get fired for. Now, I’m not saying that Steve Yzerman is going to necessarily come down with the proverbial ax on Jeff Blashill this early into the season, but eventually, something has to give. Enough with the line blender already — this annoyed many fans last year — and commit to building chemistry or at least riding out some line combinations that give the younger players a chance to show their offensive talents. The Wings called up Evgeny Svechnikov on Tuesday for a reason, and that reason wasn’t to play him 10 minutes per game in a bottom six role.

2. Show Some Fire

There was a scoring chance during the second period of Wednesday night’s game in Ottawa where Brady Tkachuk stood alone at the side of the Wings’ net. There, he received a redirected pass from Thomas Chabot and got about four to five whacks at trying to push the puck past Jonathan Bernier. Not a single Wings player grabbed a hold of Tkachuk and came to their goaltenders rescue. It was a sad sight really because it showed that the team was being pushed around by another bottom feeder in the division. The Wings need to show more push back, they’re on a six-game losing streak and it’s time to show some urgency and stand firm on their feet.

3. Stay Out of the Box

The Wings can’t keep giving up added chances, considering they’re having a hard enough time keeping the puck out of their own net lately — they’ve given up five goals in five of their last six games. One team that will bury you on the man advantage are the Sabres, currently clicking at a 30.8% rate (4th-best in NHL). One player to watch out for is Victor Olofsson, who has scored all six of his goals this year on the power play.