Tonight, the Detroit Red Wings take the ice at First Niagara Center against the league’s worst, Buffalo Sabres.
The Red Wings come into tonight’s game with a four point lead over the New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs. Essentially, 90 points should lock the the Wings into one of the two wild card spots.
The road after Buffalo is not a promising one though.
After tonight, the Wings head to Pittsburgh for their final back to back road games. They return home Friday to face Carolina, before the final game of the season Sunday, against the Blues.
The big story line down the stretch, can the Red Wings clinch their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 23rd consecutive season? That’s why tonight’s game in Buffalo is a must win. To keep the streak alive, their best chance to get the final win they need is tonight.
“The job is not done,” Justin Abdelkader said. “We don’t want to be waiting till the last game and hoping teams are losing. That’s not a fun position to be in. We have to take care of it ourselves as best we can.”
Tonight is their best shot.
Buffalo has a whopping 13 players either out or nursing injuries, including its top-two goaltenders. To add salt to the wound, Buffalo are losers of three straight, seven of eight and 2-13-1 in their past 16 games. The Sabres have four games left, two at home and two on the road.
Goalie Matt Hackett will start for the Sabres. To back him up, goalie Andrey Makarov was summoned from Rochester of the American Hockey League.
Look for Red Wings center Darren Helm to stay hot, he has five points (four goals, one assists) in his past five games. Gustav Nyquist has also been heating up, has points in 11 of his past 12 (12-3-15). And last but not least, don’t forget about Johan Franzen, he has four assists in his past five games.
Jimmy Howard will be in net for the Wings. Howard faced the Sabres, just Friday night. He stopped 21 of 23 shots on the way to the Red Wings victory. Howard has now won three in a row, with a 2.00 GAA and .929 SV%.
With much needed points on the line, I see Detroit getting the job done. But don’t count Buffalo out from playing the spoiler tonight.
Game Prediction
Red Wings 3-2 OT
photo credit getty images
