Red Wings at Sabres
The Detroit Red Wings will try to avoid matching their longest losing streak of the season when they pay a visit to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in the opener of a six-game road trip. The Red Wings have dropped three in a row and seven of their last nine games (2-5-2) entering their third meeting with Buffalo, which also is mired in a three-game skid.
Detroit jumped out to a two-goal lead before surrendering five unanswered tallies in a 5-2 home loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday. "Individuals have got to go out and raise that level," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said Friday. "Sometimes as a human you think you are at a high level, and you've got to realize you can dig deeper." The Sabres have managed only three goals during their three-game drought, although they poured 43 shots on goal in Thursday's 2-1 home defeat to the New York Islanders. Buffalo has split a pair of decisions in Detroit, falling in a 5-4 shootout on Dec. 1 and prevailing 2-1 on Dec. 14.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, MSG (Buffalo)
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (18-13-7): Among the reasons for Detroit's offensive funk is the lack of production from linemates Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar, who have combined for three points over the past eight games. "I thought they went through a stretch of playing great for about a month," Blashill said. "Little bit drier here lately, but I think that's the ebb and flow of the season a little bit, so I'm not necessarily concerned about it." Detroit has surrendered four power-play goals in its last three games.
ABOUT THE SABRES (15-19-4): After ending a seven-game drought on the power play against the Islanders with rookie Jack Eichel setting up Ryan O'Reilly's goal, the man advantage was the focal point of Friday's practice. "We were moving the puck well; we had a lot of good chances and a lot of good looks," Sabres captain Brian Gionta said. "Obviously we scored a goal, but it was more about the chances we got so we wanted to continue to stay with that today." O'Reilly has scored six times in his last nine games and is two goals shy of matching last season's total of 17 tallies.
OVERTIME
1. Eichel, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, has nine points in his last six games.
2. Red Wings F Tomas Jurco, hurt in Thursday's loss, will be replaced in the lineup Saturday by Joakim Andersson.
3. Sabres D Rasmus Ristolainen has four assists in the two games versus Detroit last month.