Red Wings at Sabres preview

RED WINGS (28-38-11) at SABRES (24-40-12)
7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-D+, NHL.TV

Mittelstadt, the No. 8 pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, signed with the Sabres on Monday, after completing his freshman season at the University of Minnesota, where the 19-year-old had 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 34 games.
Goaltender Robin Lehner will start for the Sabres, 1-4-0 in their past five games and 3-6-1 in their past 10.
Goaltender Jimmy Howard will start for the Red Wings, who are 2-12-1 in their past 15 games and have allowed at least four goals in 11 of their past 14 games.
The Red Wings and Sabres each have been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention.

Players to watch

Red Wings center Dylan Larkin has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past five games.
Sabres forward Sam Reinhart has 10 points (six goals, four assists) in his past 12 games.

They said it

"It's big for a lot of guys in here. You want to show your best foot forward. I don't think anyone wants to give up and quit. I think these games show a lot of character if you dig in and work hard and try to finish the season off as best as possible." -- Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist
"The biggest transition for him is just getting back into the game. He hasn't played since March 3. The speed's going to come a lot faster at him. Detroit's a very good rush team, they're fast, so all those things I think he's going to have to get comfortable with quickly. But I feel his instincts will take over from that point." -- Sabres coach Phil Housley on center Casey Mittelstadt's NHL debut

Red Wings projected lineup

Tyler Bertuzzi -- Henrik Zetterberg -- Gustav Nyquist
Darren Helm -- Dylan Larkin -- Anthony Mantha
Andreas Athanasiou -- Frans Nielsen -- Justin Abdelkader
Martin Frk -- Luke Glendening -- Evgeny Svechnikov
Jonathan Ericsson -- Trevor Daley
Niklas Kronwall -- Nick Jensen
Danny DeKeyser --
Joe Hicketts
Jimmy Howard
Jared Coreau
Scratched:Xavier Ouellet, Luke Witkowski, David Booth
Injured: Mike Green (neck)

Sabres projected lineup

Zemgus Girgensons -- Jack Eichel -- Jason Pominville
Scott Wilson -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Kyle Okposo
Evan Rodrigues -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Sam Reinhart
Jordan Nolan -- Johan Larsson -- Nick Baptiste
Marco Scandella -- Casey Nelson
Brendan Guhle -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Nathan Beaulieu -- Justin Falk
Robin Lehner
Chad Johnson
Scratched:Benoit Pouliot, Josh Gorges, Victor Antipin
Injured:Linus Ullmark (upper body), Jacob Josefson (lower body), Kyle Criscuolo (upper body), Jake McCabe (shoulder), Zach Bogosian (hip)

Status report

Ullmark and Criscuolo each skated Thursday; Ullmark is day-to-day and Criscuolo is close to returning.

Stat pack

Bertuzzi has three points (two goals, one assist) in his past three games. … Lehner is 4-2-1 with the Sabres against the Red Wings with a 1.68 goals-against average and .952 save percentage.