The Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres each bring winning streaks into their matchup Saturday at Buffalo.
The Red Wings have won three in a row after Thursday night’s 5-3 win over the New Jersey Devils in Detroit, while the Sabres have won their last two.
Red Wings veteran Patrick Kane scored a power-play goal with 3:32 remaining Thursday to break a 3-3 tie against the Devils, and Michael Rasmussen added an empty-net goal for the 5-3 victory.
“Whenever (Kane) has the puck, he’s going to make something happen,” Detroit forward Alex DeBrincat said. “We just have to find ways to get it to him and get open. That creates so much more offense and just more puck touches.”
Kane scored on a wrist shot from the high slot. He also added an assist, while DeBrincat had a goal and an assist and Lucas Raymond had two assists.
The Red Wings again needed outstanding goaltending to win. They were outshot 109-55 in the three victories. Cam Talbot made 37 saves on Thursday after Alex Lyon was the difference in the first two wins. The pair have a .954 save percentage (104 saves on 109 shots) in the three games.
“They’ve been great,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said Thursday of the goalies. “That’s the story of the difference of last week to this week, especially tonight against a very good offensive team.”
DeBrincat (three goals, three assists) and Raymond (six assists) lead the Red Wings in points while Larkin’s four goals pace the team.
Detroit’s top defense pairing, which features 6-foot-3 Moritz Seider and rookie Simon Edvinsson, who is 6-6, has been effective in early action together.
“I think that’s definitely something we want to take as an advantage,” Seider said. “Stay tight together and then expand quickly if we have to. Don’t get out of position because we’ll cover a lot of ice and, eventually, they have to come to us anyway.”
Buffalo defeated the Dallas Stars 4-2 on Tuesday after topping the Chicago Blackhawks by the same score last Saturday.
“Our team as a whole is just more mature,” Sabres center Tage Thompson said. “We got a lot of guys that have been here for a while, a lot of young guys that have learned. I think the biggest thing for us is puck management. … I think, so far, everyone’s just committed to the game plan that we’re just going to stay on the (defensive) side of pucks.”
Thompson and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist against the Stars while defenseman Owen Power had three assists. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 28 saves.
Thompson, who leads Buffalo with five goals, also had a goal and an assist in the win over the Blackhawks last Saturday and J.J. Peterka added a goal and an assist. Luukkonen stopped 35 shots.
Tuch is the Sabres’ leading point producer with nine (three goals, six assists), Thompson has eight points (three assists) and Peterka (four goals, two assists) and Power (two goals, four assists) each have six. Ryan McLeod has four goals.
Luukkonen has a 3.01 goals-against average, .903 saves percentage and is 2-2-1. DeVon Levi has a 3.79 GAA and .874 saves percentage in three games (1-2).
