The Red Wings play their second preseason game Thursday when taking on a division rival in the Buffalo Sabres.
The Detroit Red Wings restart their preseason on Thursday with a divisional showdown against the Buffalo Sabres. Before last preseason, these two haven’t faced off in exhibition action since the 2021-22 season. With little history between them, the Red Wings have a 1-1-1 record over their last three exhibition matchups versus Buffalo.
Fans could see some big names take to the ice for the first time this season like in Detroit‘s preseason opener on Tuesday when they faced off against the Chicago. The Blackhawks played some of their highest end talent like star center Connor Bedard and 2024 second overall pick Artyom Levshunov.
Detroit is coming off a gutsy win in their preseason opener as they downed the Blackhawks 3-2 thanks to an impressive performance from former seventh round pick Emmitt Finnie, who scored and dished for an assist in a multi-point performance. Other notable names in the win were his linemates in other top prospects for Detroit with Nate Danielson, who also scored, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, who recorded a pair of assists.
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With Detroit playing mostly their prospects in the opener, except for J.T. Compher, Jonatan Berggren and Travis Hamonic, we get a more veteran-focused lineup deployed for Thursday’s matchup as Red Wings bench boss Todd McLellan would like to make sure all their routine starters have enough time to get their legs underneath them before the start of the season.
In the action will be captain Dylan Larkin, Marco Kasper, Lucas Raymond, Andrew Copp, Moritz Seider and Cam Talbot backing up starter Michal Postava. Making his Red Wings debut is Mason Appleton, who is expected to play on a line with Michael Rasmussen and Copp.
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The city of Detroit hasn’t hosted a Stanley Cup Playoff game since April 2016 against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Joe Louis Arena, who at that time were overseen by general manager Steve Yzerman.
Last Sunday, the Red Wings played in their signature split squad game called the Red and White Game in Grand Rapids and led to some impressive performances. Finnie was again a standout after scoring while playing on the top line with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. Detroit winger Elmer Söderblom also made his case for the top-line left wing spot, turning heads after scoring twice and impressing during training camp scrimmages while playing on the top unit. The battle for the top-line left wing spot remains one of the key storylines to watch, with no clear frontrunner emerging.
Another position battle heading into the season could be with naming a No. 1 starting goaltender despite the team trading for a former all-star netminder in John Gibson. The former Ducks goaltender appeared in 29 games (28 starts) and posted a lesser record than Talbot at 11‑11‑2 while playing for a weaker team in the Ducks but posted a better goals against average (GAA) at 2.77 and a better save percentage at .912 compared to Talbot’s GAA at 2.93 and his .901 save percentage. Both haven’t seen the ice yet in the preseason as former first round pick Sebastian Cossa took the crease for the opener and will make the decision in net for the Sabres matchup an interesting one.
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