Sabres at Red Wings
The Buffalo Sabres find themselves in unfamiliar territory - battling for first place in the Atlantic Division - as they ride an eight-game winning streak into Detroit to face the Red Wings on Saturday. Buffalo, which defeated Montreal 3-2 on Friday, has won nine in a row twice in franchise history (1979-80, 1976-77) with the club record of 10 straight (1983-84, 2006-07) on the horizon as it rubs elbows with Tampa Bay and Toronto at the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
"We're enjoying it, for sure,'' Sabres captain Jack Eichel told reporters. "We don't want to lose. Who wants to lose? You want to win every game you go out and try to play. We get a tough test again (Saturday) against (Detroit), a team that's playing really well." Buffalo is 9-1-0 in its last 10 games - its best such stretch since the 2006-07 team started 10-0-0 - after Jeff Skinner scored his NHL-high 17th goal of the season and second of the game at 3:06 of overtime on Friday. The Red Wings, who lost at Washington 3-1 on Friday, have won four straight at home after losing five of their first seven (2-4-1) at Little Caesars Arena this season and are 6-2-0 in their last eight games overall. “I’m excited to see what they got, excited to match up against them,” Detroit's Justin Abdelkader told reporters about the Sabres. “It’s going to be a great test.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (Buffalo), FS Detroit
ABOUT THE SABRES (15-6-2): Skinner (25 points this season), who shares the league lead in goals with Boston's David Pastrnak, has scored 16 times in his last 16 games. Eichel (team-high 26 points) recorded an assist Friday, extending his point streak to five contests (goal, six assists). Linus Ullmark (4-0-1, 2.65 goals-against average, .922 save percentage) could play Saturday in the second of back-to-back games after Carter Hutton (11-6-1, 2.53, .919) made 33 saves Friday.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (10-10-2): Andreas Athanasiou (team-high 10 goals) scored on Friday, giving him seven tallies in eight games this month. Dylan Larkin paces the club with 21 points while Gustav Nyquist (16) has notched a team-leading 14 assists. Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson likely will return to the lineup after missing nine games with an undisclosed injury.
OVERTIME
1. Buffalo won its 15th game of last season on Feb. 8, improving to 15-29-10 en route to a 25-45-12 finish.
2. Detroit's power play is 1-for-15 in its last seven games while its fifth-ranked penalty-killing unit is 13-for-14 in the last five contests.
3. The clubs split their four-game season series in 2017-18, with Larkin scoring twice to give him four goals in 13 games versus Buffalo.