Welcome to NHL Predictions, where tonight’s matchup features two teams who are facing the NHL’s longest playoff droughts. The Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres are raring to erase the futility that has been surrounding them since the mid-2010s. For the Sabres, that has gone even longer.
NHL Predictions, With the Red Wings and Sabres
Season Series: 0-1-1 (Red Wings), 2-0-0 (Sabres)
Puck Drop: 7:00 p.m. EDT
How to Watch: NHL Network, FDSNDetroit, MSG-Buffalo
Nobody saw this coming for the Sabres. Over the summer, Buffalo looked like a team in regression when they traded star winger JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth for Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring. Another rebuild looked like it was further underway when the Sabres fired general manager Kevyn Adams and replaced him with Jarmo Kekalainen. Then, they went on a 30-6-4 odyssey since hiring Kekalainen, and have proven they can beat anyone.
As for the Red Wings, they are 4-5-2 in March, and once again collapsing under the pressure. While the Wings have played better hockey in March than they have in recent seasons, this was a team entrenched in a Wild Card spot at the beginning of the month. Now, they’re once again on the outside and looking in.
Wild Card Standings
Team – GP – Pts – RW
- BOS – 72 – 88 – 29
- NYI – 73 – 87 – 27
- OTT – 72 – 86 – 32
- DET – 71 – 84 – 27
- PHI – 71 – 82 – 22
As the above standings show, the Red Wings have ground to make up, and the Bruins are pulling away. Ironically, the Bruins beating the Sabres on Wednesday night hurt Detroit, and the Red Wings are slowly watching the top Wild Card slot slip away unless they get back on track immediately.
Biggest Storyline for the Red Wings
Detroit just can’t catch a break in March. They lost Andrew Copp and Dylan Larkin to injuries earlier in the month. While both made their returns, Emmitt Finnie went down with a concussion on Larkin’s first night back. Larkin and Copp are both trusted playmakers. That isn’t the case with Finnie just yet, but he’s a high-energy forward who can play on any line and fit in well, so losing him will hurt the Wings.
The upside is that the Wings continue to battle despite their poor showing once again in March. They lost to a Boston Bruins team on a night when goaltender Jeremy Swayman was saving everything, so that’s not a knock on their effort. Detroit also got it together against the Senators after falling into a 3-0 hole but couldn’t complete the comeback, so the resilience is there.
(Credit Image: © Steve Roberts/Cal Sport Media/Cal Sport Media)
A Golden Opportunity for the Sabres
The Sabres haven’t had 96 points in a single season since 2010-11, ironically the last time they made the playoffs. They’re four away from 100, which hasn’t occurred since 2009-10. It was also the last time the Sabres won their division.
A season like the one the Sabres have been having is once again proof that it doesn’t matter where you are when you start the season, but how you finish it. As for the Red Wings, the opposite is true. They had gotten off to an outstanding start following a crushing loss to the Montreal Canadiens and have been up and down since.
NHL Predictions
The Sabres and Red Wings have both dropped two straight games, but Buffalo has at least found ways to skate away with a point. With the Sabres still finding ways to minimize their losses in regulation and the Red Wings falling down a slippery slope, momentum is in the Blue and Gold’s corner.
Sabres 4 – Red Wings 3
Prop Bets
For the goal scorers, go with Tage Thompson and Alex DeBrincat. Thompson is once again on pace to hit 40 goals, while DeBrincat has scored 35 times and continues to prove doubters wrong that he was left off the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team.
Main photo by: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
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