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WGD: Game 55: Red Wings vs. Sabres

Feb 9, 2019, 09:16 EST

There’s a lot of hockey on today, with a total of 14 NHL games on throughout the course of the day. The Red Wings are part of this large slate of games, travelling to Buffalo to take on Jack Eichel and the Sabres.

After a strong start to the season, the Sabres have kind of tapered off. Currently four points out of a playoff spot, every point counts for them right now. Though unlikely, the playoffs are not out of the question. They just need to string together a couple of wins.

The Red Wings are going to do everything in their power to stop them.

THE RED WINGS

LW	C	RW
JUSTIN ABDELKADER Rating: 70.1#116 LW	DYLAN LARKIN Rating: 79.4#25 C	GUSTAV NYQUIST Rating: 75.8#48 RW
THOMAS VANEK Rating: 73.9#44 LW	FRANS NIELSEN Rating: 73.0#89 C	ANTHONY MANTHA Rating: 75.0#41 RW
DARREN HELM Rating: 71.1#146 LW	LUKE GLENDENING Rating: 71.2#144 C	ANDREAS ATHANASIOU Rating: 76.7#42 RW
MICHAEL RASMUSSEN Rating: 71.6#127 LW	JACOB DE LA ROSE Rating: 68.1#190 C	CHRISTOFFER EHN Rating: 70.5#101 RW

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
NIKLAS KRONWALL Rating: 72.2#72 LD	MIKE GREEN Rating: 75.0#29 RD
DAN DEKEYSER Rating: 72.9#57 LD	NICK JENSEN Rating: 72.5#51 RD
JONATHAN ERICSSON Rating: 69.6#119 LD	DENNIS CHOLOWSKI Rating: 71.9#12 RD

Dylan Larkin made his return to the lineup on Thursday night and put up two points, further proving how crucial he is to this team’s success. With Bertuzzi still out with an upper-body injury, Justin Abdelkader holds down the spot on the top line.

While I don’t really mind Abdelkader playing on the top line, I really don’t like seeing Andreas Athanasiou relegated to third line. Darren Helm may be able to keep up with him from a speed perspective, but Luke Glendening certainly can’t and neither of them have the all around skill to complement what AA brings to the table.

On the back end, Niklas Kronwall and Mike Green bring a combined 29 years of NHL experience to the top line, while Dennis Cholowski continues to play his sheltered minutes on the bottom-pair. The middle pair of Danny DeKeyser and Nick Jensen is the best one that the Wings have right now. They’re no Dahlin-Bogosian, but they’re all we have right now.

THE SABRES

LW	C	RW
JEFF SKINNER Rating: 80.2#9 LW	JACK EICHEL Rating: 80.8#17 C	JASON POMINVILLE Rating: 73.1#60 RW
CONOR SHEARY Rating: 73.4#50 LW	CASEY MITTELSTADT Rating: 71.6#126 C	SAM REINHART Rating: 76.8#27 RW
ZEMGUS GIRGENSONS Rating: 69.9#173 LW	JOHAN LARSSON Rating: 68.9#127 C	KYLE OKPOSO Rating: 71.3#84 RW
VLADIMIR SOBOTKA Rating: 68.7#186 LW	EVAN RODRIGUES Rating: 73.1#87 C	TAGE THOMPSON Rating: 70.1#167 RW

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
RASMUS DAHLIN Rating: 74.1#35 LD	ZACH BOGOSIAN Rating: 71.4#78 RD
MARCO SCANDELLA Rating: 71.6#82 LD	RASMUS RISTOLAINEN Rating: 76.1#26 RD
JAKE MCCABE Rating: 72.3#70 LD	LAWRENCE PILUT Rating: 72.6#47 RD

This Sabres team isn’t that far off. Jack Eichel is having a great year and leading the team in points. Jeff Skinner is doing himself a favour by having a career year. He’s on pace to score more than 50 goals for the first time in his career.

The most exciting part of this lineup, to me, is Rasmus Dahlin. The first overall pick in last year’s draft has been having a fantastic rookie season with 6 goals and 29 points so far. It’s too bad he’s being overshadowed by Elias Pettersson because otherwise he’d be a top Calder candidate.

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Jimmy Howard vs. Carter Hutton

Due to the early start time of this game, neither team has confirmed their starting goalie yet, but these are the two most likely options.

There’s not much else I can write about Jimmy Howard that I haven’t written before. He’s been a rock for the Wings this year and his solid play continues to drive up his value on the trade market. Will the Wings pull the trigger on him? I really doubt it, but he’s worth a lot at this point.

As for Carter Hutton, he’s put together a nice little season for himself, going 15-15-3 and putting up a .909 save percentage. It’s not the best of his career, but it’s mostly due to the second half of the season. In H1, he was playing great. I know because he’s on my fantasy hockey team. So I’ve experienced the ups and downs in my goalie categories.