Game #77

Buffalo Sabres (24-40-12) vs. Detroit Red Wings (28-38-11)

Puck drop: 7:00 p.m. EST | KeyBank Center | Buffalo, NY

Season Series: 2-1

10/24: Sabres 1, Wings 0 (recap)

11/17 Wings 3, Sabres 1 (recap)

2/22 Sabres 3, Wings 2 (OT) (recap)

TV: MSG

Radio: WGR 550

SB Nation Red Wings blog: Winging it in Motown

What to Watch

1. Casey Day

The big draw of tonight’s game is of course the debut of the Sabres 2017 first round pick Casey Mittelstadt. The 19-year-old will play with Evan Rodrigues and Sam Reinhart tonight.

2. Lehner in Goal

Robin Lehner will be back in goal tonight. His last win was March 8 against the Ottawa Senators and he didn’t make it through his last start against the New York Rangers last Saturday.

3. Depth

Tonight will be a first look at the potential three-headed monster down the middle of the lineup in Jack Eichel, Ryan O’Reilly and Mittelstadt. It’ll be interesting to see how Mittlestadt handles playing that position over the next week or so. If it works out the Sabres have a lot of depth at the position.

Know Your Opponent

1. Falling Fast

The Wings are coming off of a win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. However, in their last 15 games they’ve only won twice. They come into tonight playing their third in four nights and the Sabres have been off since Monday.

2. Dylan Larkin

Larkin is having a nice bounce back season for Detroit, at least from a point production standpoint. He only has 12 goals in 77 games, but his 44 assists give him 56 points on the season.

Projected Lineup

28 Zemgus Girgensons - 15 Jack Eichel - 29 Jason Pominville

71 Evan Rodrigues - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 23 Sam Reinhart

20 Scott Wilson - 90 Ryan O’Reilly - 21 Kyle Okposo

17 Jordan Nolan - 22 Johan Larsson - 13 Nick Baptiste

45 Brendan Guhle - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

6 Marco Scandella - 8 Casey Nelson

82 Nathan Beaulieu - 41 Justin Falk

Starting Goaltender: 40 Robin Lehner