Red Wings at Sabres preview

RED WINGS (14-39-4) at SABRES (24-24-8)
7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-D, NHL.TV

The forward, fourth among Red Wings forwards with 24 points (12 goals, 12 assists) in 29 games, has missed 20 games with a rib injury and a punctured lung.
Detroit, looking to win consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 7-10, is 2-9-1 in its past 12 games, with one of those wins coming in a shootout at Buffalo on Thursday. The Red Wings are last in the NHL.
The Sabres, 2-5-1 in their past eight games after going 5-2-0 in their previous seven games, are 13 points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Red Wings center Dylan Larkin has 15 points (10 goals, five assists) in 20 games against Buffalo.
Sabres center Jack Eichel has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his past 17 games.

They said it

"It feels good now. Obviously it's been a long time. That short four-game stint between my two injuries was not close to being enough so I'm excited to get out there tonight and hopefully things go well." -- Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha, who missed eight games with a lower-body injury prior to his rib injury
"You get to this level and you have to have a certain belief in yourself and your abilities and what you can contribute. … When you get into a little bit of a slump like I've been, you've got to try to fight your way out of it." -- Sabres forward Jeff Skinner, who has gone 18 games without a goal

Red Wings projected lineup

Justin Abdelkader -- Dylan Larkin -- Anthony Mantha
Brendan Perlini -- Valtteri Filppula -- Tyler Bertuzzi
Darren Helm -- Luke Glendening -- Andreas Athanasiou
Adam Erne -- Frans Nielsen -- Christoffer Ehn
Patrik Nemeth -- Filip Hronek
Trevor Daley -- Alex Biega
Mike Green -- Gustav Lindstrom
Jonathan Bernier
Jimmy Howard
Scratched: Jonathan Ericsson
Injured: Robby Fabbri (upper body), Danny DeKeyser (back), Filip Zadina (lower body), Madison Bowey (undisclosed)

Sabres projected lineup

Jimmy Vesey -- Jack Eichel -- Sam Reinhart
Jeff Skinner -- Evan Rodrigues -- Michael Frolik
Marcus Johansson -- Curtis Lazar -- Conor Sheary
Zemgus Girgensons -- Johan Larsson -- Scott Wilson
Brandon Montour -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin -- Colin Miller
Jake McCabe -- Henri Jokiharju
Carter Hutton
Jonas Johansson
Scratched: Zach Bogosian](https://www.nhl.com/player/zach-bogosian-8474567) , Lawrence Pilut
Injured:Kyle Okposo (upper body), Linus Ullmark (lower body), Victor Olofsson (lower body), Tage Thompson (upper body), Vladimir Sobotka (lower body)

Status report

Nielsen was activated from injured reserve after missing five games because of an upper-body injury. He, Helm and Bowey each will be a game-time decision. … Detroit assigned forwards Taro Hirose and Givani Smith to Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League. … Okposo skated with the Sabres for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury Jan. 30.

Stat pack

Vesey has four points (two goals, two assists) during a three-game point streak. … Bernier, who has won each of his past two starts, is 5-4-2 with a 2.54 goals-against and .909 save percentage in 12 games against Buffalo.