(WGR 550) - As the Sabres prepare for Detroit on Friday, both teams are nursing injuries. Marco Scandella and Jimmy Vesey couldn't finish Thursday's game in New York, so if both are out, the Sabres didn't have an extra player. That necessitated the call up for Will Borgen from Rochester.
Borgen played four games with the Sabres last season. This year with the Amerks, the defenseman has played in all seven games down there and rolled up 27 minutes in penalties. Chances are good that John Gilmour will play his first game as a Sabre and Evan Rodrigues slides in for Vesey, leaving Borgen as the extra in case of an injury during the warm-up.
Detroit announced on Friday that Luke Glendening, Danny DeKeyser and Justin Abdelkader are all out hurt.
The Sabres lost just their second regulation game against the Rangers on Thursday night. After their first regulation loss in Anaheim, the team rebounded with a 3-0 win in Los Angeles.
In the last three games, the power play has gone stale again, going 1-for-11. The penalty kill has had two good games in a row, killing 6-for-6.
The loss to the Rangers knocked the Sabres out of the NHL's top spot. They're now third with a points percentage of .773. Edmonton is also .773, while Boston is .778 and Colorado is .833.
Since Carter Hutton played in New York, my guess is Linus Ullmark will get the call in Detroit. Ullmark has allowed seven goals in his last two starts, and overall is 2-1-1 with a 3.18 goals-against and .913 save percentage.
Victor Olofsson is third in the NHL with seven power play points. That means he only has two 5-on-5 points playing with gifted passers like Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. Eichel has seven power play points and seven even strength points. Reinhart has three power play points and five points during 5-on-5.
Jake McCabe leads the NHL with 30 blocked shots.
Eichel is seventh in the league with 106 faceoffs won. He is also third in the NHL with 112 faceoffs lost.
Buffalo is 8-2-2 in their last 12 against Detroit, and 6-3-1 on the road. In their last six in Detroit, the Sabres are 5-1-0.
Marcus Johansson will play in his 600th NHL game on Friday. Johansson has only taken nine shots this season, which gives him a shooting percentage of 44.4%. That's second in the league.
To say the Red Wings are struggling would be an understatement. Detroit has lost six straight games and seven out of eight. The No. 5 has been prevalent in their goals-against as in five of the six losses, they've given up five goals.
The Wings have only scored seven goals in their last five games. In his last three starts, Jimmy Howard has given up 13 goals. Overall, he's 1-4-0 with a 3.88 goals-against and .898 save percentage.
Anthony Mantha had a red-hot start to the season, scoring six goals in his first four games. He's had one in his last six since then. Overall, Mantha does have 11 points in 10 games. Dylan Larkin only has seven points in 10 games.
Join Schopp and the Bulldog, as well as Brian Koziol for pre-game coverage starting at 6:30.
