The Buffalo Sabres face the Detroit Red Wings with both teams looking to improve rough difficult starts to the season. The Sabres have a 9-12-1 record and have only won two of their last 10 games while the Red Wings have an 11-6-4 record. Both teams are looking to improve within the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a great one as a result.
The Sabres have looked promising this season behind an offense that is scoring 3.68 goals per game with 19 goals in the last four games. Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, and Jeff Skinner have scored 34 goals and 38 assists to lead the top two lines but the entire offense has been great. Casey Mittelstadt, Dylan Cozens, and Victor Olofsson have combined for 22 goals and 20 assists while defenseman Rasmus Dahlin has added eight goals and 16 assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has been great but the defense has been awful this year, allowing 3.59 goals per game including nine goals in the last two games. Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power have combined for 2.6 defensive point shares and 68 blocked shots but the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to carry the puck into the offensive zone and find open shots on the net. The bright spot has been the play of goaltender Craig Ander son who has a .917 save percentage and a 2.76 goals-against average on 276 shots.