BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
LAST GAME
Tuesday, April 6
Buffalo 1 at Florida 2
Goal: Cozens
Goalie: Levi (34 saves/36 shots)
PP: 1/5; PK: 3/4; Shots: Buffalo 40 – Florida 36
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 143)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Craig Anderson (upper body, March 31) – 3 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST SEVEN DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, April 8: Carolina at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m.
Monday, April 10: Buffalo at NY Rangers, 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 11: Buffalo at New Jersey, 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, April 13: Ottawa at Buffalo, 7:00 p.m.
Friday, April 14: Buffalo at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
SABRES AT RED WINGS
• This is the fourth and final meeting between the Sabres and Red Wings this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Detroit 6-3 in Buffalo on Dec. 29, 2022.
• The Sabres are 5-1-4 in their last 10 games against Detroit; 7-2-1 on the road.
• This is the 153rd game all-time between Buffalo and Florida; Buffalo has a 69-60-23 series record.
• The Sabres are 28-40-9 on the road against the Red Wings all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• A win in tonight’s game would give the Sabres four wins in a row against the Red Wings for the first time since Buffalo defeated Detroit in four consecutive contests from Dec. 27, 2016 to Oct. 24, 2017.
• Buffalo has earned at least one point in 14 of its last 15 games against Detroit (9-1-5).
• Tage Thompson has recorded 40 points (18+22) in his last 40 games, including 21 points (9+12) in his last 21 games.
• Alex Tuch has recorded 17 points (11+6) in his last 16 games, including seven points (5+2) in his last six games.
• In his last five games, Casey Mittelstadt has recorded seven points (0+7).
• With one more point this season, Mittelstadt would double his previous single-season career high in points (25), which he set in 77 games in 2018-19.
• Rasmus Dahlin is riding a three-game point streak (0+3) and a point in tonight’s game would give him his fourth assist streak of four or more games in 2022-23.
• Jeff Skinner has registered three points (2+1) in his last three games.
• Owen Power has earned one assist in three of his last four games.
DETROIT RED WINGS NOTES:
LAST GAME
RED WINGS 5 at MONTREAL 0 (4/4/23)
1ST PERIOD: DET Raymond (Perron) 4:55-EV; DET Perron (Oesterle, Määttä) 10:09-EV
2ND PERIOD: DET Luff (Berggren) 7:12-EV; DET Veleno (Walman, Kubalík) 18:20-PP
3RD PERIOD: DET Perron (Määttä, Oesterle) 7:26-EV
SHOTS: DET 21 (7-11-3) / MTL 24 (10-7-7)
GOALIES: DET Husso (W, 24-24) / MTL Primeau (L, 16-21)
PP: DET 1-3 / MTL 0-3
MAN GAMES LOST (games missed / out since)
Robby Fabbri – lower body (48 / March 8)
Filip Zadina – lower body (43 / March 24)
Michael Rasmussen – lower body (21 / Feb. 25)
Marco Kasper – lower body (1 / April 3)
Total Man Games Lost: 294
Individual Man Games Lost: Jakub Vrána (33), Matt Luff (32), Tyler Bertuzzi (31), Robert Hägg (15), Gustav Lindström (14), Elmer Söderblom (13), Ville Husso (9), Lucas Raymond (8), Oskar Sundqvist (7), Ben Chiarot (6), Olli Määttä (4), Jake Walman (3), Adam Erne (2), Jordan Oesterle (2), Alex Chiasson (1), Dylan Larkin (1)
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
3/30 (POSTGAME) – Recalled forward Marco Kasper from Rögle BK (SHL)
3/29 – Assigned forward Taro Hirose to Grand Rapids
TONIGHT’S GAME
RED WINGS vs. SABRES / 7:00 P.M. EDT / LITTLE CAESARS ARENA / TV: BSD / RADIO: WXYT 97.1 FM
TONIGHT: 153rd all-time meeting, 78th in Detroit … Fourth of four games this season, second of two at Little Caesars Arena ALL-TIME vs. BUF: 70-63-13-6 / HOME: 44-24-5-4 / LAST 10: 5-4-1 / IN 2021-22: 4-0-0 / THIS SEASON: 0-2-1
DET top scorers vs. BUF: Dylan Larkin (13-9-22 in 27 GP), David Perron (9-12-21 in 22 GP), Andrew Copp (2-9-11 in 14 GP), Robby Fabbri (3-4-7 in 9 GP), Dominik Kubalík (3-3-6 in 6 GP), Lucas Raymond (2-4-6 in 7 GP), Jordan Oesterle (3-2-5 in 7 GP), Moritz Seider (1-3-4 in 7 GP), Joe Veleno (0-3-3 in 6 GP), Jonatan Berggren (1-1-2 in 2 GP)
BUF top scorers vs. DET: Jeff Skinner (10-8-18 in 30 GP), Kyle Okposo (10-8-18 in 31 GP), Rasmus Dahlin (3-10-13 in 14 GP), Tage Thompson (5-5-10 in 10 GP), Casey Mittelstadt (4-3-7 in 9 GP), Vinnie Hinostroza (2-5-7 in 13 GP), Dylan Cozens (4-1-5 in 7 GP), J.J. Peterka (0-4-4 in 3 GP), Jordan Greenway (3-1-4 in 7 GP), Alex Tuch (2-2-4 in 8 GP), Owen Power (0-3-3 in 3 GP), Jack Quinn (1-1-2 in 3 GP), Peyton Krebs (0-2-2 in 3 GP)
UPCOMING GAMES (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sat., April 8: RED WINGS vs. PENGUINS / 1:00 p.m. / LITTLE CAESARS ARENA / TV: ESPN+, ABC / RADIO: WXYT 97.1 FM
Mon., April 10: RED WINGS vs. STARS / 7:00 p.m. / LITTLE CAESARS ARENA / TV: BSD / RADIO: WXYT 97.1 FM
Tue., April 11: RED WINGS at HURRICANES / 7:00 p.m. / PNC Arena / TV: BSD EXTRA / RADIO: WXYT 97.1 FM
LAST TIME OUT
April 4 at Montreal – 5-0 W
Detroit earned a 5-0 win at Montreal to improve to 35-33-9 overall and 16-18-5 on the road … The Red Wings are 4-1-0 in their last five games … Detroit finished 3-0-1 against Montreal this season … The Red Wings are 8-2-1 against the Canadiens dating back to Oct. 10, 2019 … Detroit also went 12-7-1 against the NHL’s Canadian clubs this season, including a 6-4-0 record on the road … Ville Husso stopped all 24 shots he faced to collect his fourth shutout of the season and seventh of his NHL career … The only NHL goaltenders with more shutouts than Husso in 2022-23 are Alexandar Georgiev (5), Ilya Sorokin (5) and Darcy Kuemper (5) … Husso set a career high with his 26th victory of the season, surpassing his previous high of 25 wins set in 2021-22 with St. Louis … Husso has allowed one goal or fewer in 14 starts this season … Husso became the first Red Wings goaltender to blank the same opponent twice in a single season since Jimmy Howard did so in 2014-15 against Columbus … David Perron recorded two goals and an assist for his 11th multi-point game and fifth three-point outing of the season … Perron ranks second among Red Wings skaters in goals (22), points (53), penalty minutes (48) and shots (183) through 77 games … Perron, Andrew Copp and Moritz Seider are the only Red Wings skaters to play in all 77 games this season … Perron has compiled nine points (6-3-9) in his last five games … Perron has 15 points (7-8-15) in 15 contests dating back to March 5 at Philadelphia … Olli Määttä picked up two assists for his second-consecutive multi-point game (1-3-4 in 2 GP) … The last time Määttä had multiple points in back-to-back appearances was during his rookie season in 2013-14 with Pittsburgh (Feb. 7, 2014 vs. New York Rangers and Feb. 27, 2014 vs. Montreal) … Jordan Oesterle also dished out a pair of assists for his second multi-point game of the season … Oesterle has five assists in five games since March 23 vs. St. Louis … Lucas Raymond opened the scoring with his 17th goal of the season … Raymond (40-58-98 in 151 GP) is two points shy of 100 for his NHL career … Raymond notched his fourth game-winning goal of the season, trailing only Dylan Larkin (5) for the team lead in that category … Raymond has eight points (2-6-8) in 14 games since March 8 vs. Chicago … Matt Luff gave Detroit a 3-0 lead with his second goal of the season … Luff has recorded two points (1-1-2) in his last three appearances … Joe Veleno scored on the power play for his career-high ninth goal of the season … Veleno has scored two goals in his last three games … Jonatan Berggren picked up the lone assist on Luff’s goal, giving him points in back-to-back games (1-1-2 in 2 GP) … Jake Walman logged the primary helper on Veleno’s power play goal, giving him an assist in two-straight games (0-2-2 in 2 GP) … Walman leads Detroit with a plus-17 rating through 58 games, which is the highest plus/minus by a Red Wings defenseman in a single season since Ian White (+23) and Nicklas Lidström (+21) in 2011-12 … Dominik Kubalík also registered an assist on Veleno’s power play goal … Kubalík has six points (2-4-6) in eight games since March 21 at St. Louis … Copp finished 8-for-10 (80.0%) at the faceoff circle … Detroit is 5-for-11 (45.5%) on the man advantage since March 28 vs. Pittsburgh.
