Saturday, January 10, 2009

Sabres vs. Red Wings

  The Sabres are heading into Detroit tonight to face the  always tough Red Wings.  This is the first of two games against Detroit this year thanks to flex scheduling.  The second matchup will be April 6th in Buffalo. 

The Sabres come off an interesting two point performance in which Ryan Miller kept the Sabres in the game all night.  Outshot 44-33 and outworked for the first two periods, the Sabres worked their way into a shootout win against the Rangers.  Ryan Miller was the star of the game and Derek Roy scored the game tying goal in the second period.  For the Rangers, Paul Mara, who didn’t have to deal with Kaleta, scored the Rangers only goal with 36 seconds left in the first period. Kotalik scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Sabres a much needed two points.  The Sabres currently sit in 7th place in the conference, tied with the Carolina Hurricanes and three points ahead of the Panthers. 

Meanwhile, the Red Wings are currently on a five game winning streak, including the 6-4 win against the Blackhawks outdoors.  Their last game was Thursday night 6-1 win against the Dallas Stars.  Six different Wings scored while Chris Osgood stopped 22 of 23 shots. 

The Wings have always been a tough opponent for the Sabres beating the Sabres in 7 of the last 10 matchups and 8 of the last 10 in Detroit.  The last matchup in Detroit was a shootout win in 2006.  Ty Conklin will be in net for the Red Wings as part of the goalie rotation that the Wings have been using.  For the Sabres, it would not surprise me to see Miller in net again in his hometown.  The Sabres do not play again until Wednesday and we will see Lalime at some point on this three game road trip. 

Game time is 7 pm at the Joe Louis Arena on MSG.

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