Buffalo seeks to bounce back from consecutive losses to Florida and the Islanders at home
11/02/24 – 7:00 pm EST at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, MI
Record
Buffalo – 4-6-1 | 9 points – 6th place in the Atlantic Division
Detroit – 4-5-1 | 9 points – 5th place in the Atlantic Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 9.1% (31st)
Penalty Kill – 74.3% (22nd)
Detroit
Power Play – 23.3% (10th)
Penalty Kill – 65.6% (30th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 11 GP, 7 G, 6 A, 13 PTS
Owen Power: 11 GP, 3 G, 6 A, 9 PTS
Alex Tuch: 11 GP, 3 G, 6 A, 9 PTS
Detroit
Lucas Raymond: 10 GP, 1 G, 9 A, 10 PTS
Alex DeBrincat: 10 GP, 5 G, 3 A, 8 PTS
Patrick Kane: 10 GP, 2 G, 5 A, 7 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (3-3-1, 3.31 GAA, .890 save %)
Detroit – Cam Talbot (2-1-1, 3.16 GAA, .913 save %)
Line Combinations and Pairings
Buffalo
Forwards
JJ Peterka - Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch
Jordan Greenway - Ryan McLeod - Dylan Cozens
Jason Zucker - Peyton Krebs - Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn – Sam Lafferty - Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Ex. Jiri Kulich
Out – Zach Benson (lower-body)
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin - Henri Jokiharju
Bowen Byram - Owen Power
Mattias Samuelsson - Connor Clifton
Ex. Jacob Bryson, Kale Clague
Goaltenders
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Devon Levi
Notes
Buffalo has notched at least one power-play goal in eight of its last nine games against Detroit, including one in each of its last three against the Red Wings. In each of their last six wins against the Red Wings, the Sabres have recorded five or more goals.
Tage Thompson is riding a career best eight-game point streak (6+6) and a point in today’s game would extend the streak to nine games. A point tonight would give Thompson the longest point streak by a Sabres skater since Jeff Skinner notched a 10-game point streak (8+9) from Nov. 28 to Dec. 31, 2022. An assist in tonight’s game would give Thompson a seven-game assist streak, the longest assist streak of his career.
Owen Power is riding a six-game point streak and he has posted eight points (2+6) in that span. Power’s current point streak is the longest of his career and a point in tonight’s game would make him the seventh Sabres defenseman, and the third since 1991 (Rasmus Dahlin, Uwe Krupp) to record a point streak of seven or more games.
In his last eight games, Jason Zucker has posted nine points (3+6), including at least one in each of his last three games (3+2). He has registered one goal in three consecutive games and a goal tonight would give Zucker his 200th career goal and his longest goal streak since he notched at least one goal in four consecutive games from March 7 to 12, 2023 (5+0) with Pittsburgh.
Rasmus Dahlin has recorded six points (1+5) in his last six games, including at least one in each of his last three games. Dahlin is one assist away from tying Doug Bodger for the fourth-most assists by a defenseman in franchise history (233) and is one point away from reaching 300 points in his career.
JJ Peterka has registered seven points (4+3) in his last seven games.
Sam Lafferty is expected to play in his 300th NHL game tonight.
Follow Michael on X @MikeInBuffalo
