With neither the Detroit Red Wings nor the Buffalo Sabres playing postseason hockey next month
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A pair of teams looking to post rare back-to-back wins square off when the Red Wings visit the league-worst Sabres on Thursday night.
Detroit (28-38-11) won for only the second time in 15 games after stunning the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Tuesday.
Perhaps the happiest player on the Red Wings was undrafted defenseman Joe Hicketts as he collected two assists for his first NHL points in only his second career game.
“I thought as the game went on, I got better and that’s all I want to do,” said Hicketts, who at 5-foot-8 clearly doesn’t have the size of a prototypical blueliner. “Second period, I kind of knew what I wanted to do. … In the third, I thought I really brought what I wanted to bring.”
Niklas Kronwall, playing in his 869th game — all with the Red Wings — picked up his 400th career point and praised the young player from British Columbia.
“His energy is contagious
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Hicketts could be part of the next Red Wings core of young stars that includes center Dylan Larkin (team-high 56 points), and wingers Anthony Mantha (top goal scorer with 23) and Andreas Athanasiou (31 points).
Detroit, which has lost two of three to Buffalo this season including a 1-0 setback Oct. 24 in Western New York, is out of the playoffs in consecutive campaigns for the first time since 1982 and 1983.
“We’ve worked extremely hard, we’ve competed hard, we’ve actually played good hockey and haven’t won
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Detroit is in position to win two straight for the first time since Feb. 24 and Feb. 25, and there may not be a better opponent to do that against than Buffalo (24-40-12) which is likely headed to a last-place finish in the Atlantic Division for the fourth time in five seasons.
The Sabres snapped a four-game slide Monday with a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs behind two goals from Jack Eichel. The second overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft leads Buffalo with 24 goals and 56 points.
Eichel, who missed 15 games earlier this season with an ankle injury, needs two points to set a career high and three assists for 100 in his career.
Thursday’s game will mark the Sabres debut of center Casey Mittelstadt, who was selected eighth overall in last summer’s NHL Draft, and had 30 points (11 goals
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“I’m going to try to approach it like any other game I’ve played,” Mittelstadt told the Buffalo News. “…That’s why I’m here. I’m here to learn, and I’m here to get ready for next season.”
Buffalo will be looking for Mittelstadt to make an immediate impact. The Sabres have been outscored 11-1 in a three-game losing streak at KeyBank Center.
Robin Lehner is 2-1-0 with a 1.63 goals-against average and .951 save percentage for Buffalo versus Detroit this season. However, the eight-year veteran has surrendered eight goals over his last two starts.
The Red Wings’ Jimmy Howard has lost six straight road starts while posting a 3.60 GAA. He is 3-1-1 with a 1.43 GAA all-time in Buffalo.
Backup Jared Coreau is 0-7-2 with a 4.57 GAA in 11 starts since blanking the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 16, 2017. He’s never faced the Sabres.
>The Dallas Cowboys placed the franchise tag on DeMarcus Lawrence on Monday, guaranteeing the Pro Bowl defensive end $17.5 million in 2018.The Cowboys had until Tuesday to put the tag on Lawrence, who can still sign a long-term deal with the club that traded up him to get him early in the second round in 2014.Lawrence tied All-Pro Calais Campbell of Jacksonville for second in the NFL with 14 1/2 sacks last season. The 25-year-old’s breakout year came after he struggled with injuries most of his first three seasons. He had back surgery each of the previous two offseasons.On the one-year contract
Ronnie Harrison Jersey , Lawrence’s salary would be the average of the NFL’s five highest-paid defensive ends.Lawrence is an important piece with the Cowboys trying to get back to the playoffs after missing at 9-7 a year after they had an NFC-best 13 wins before losing a divisional playoff to Green Bay.The former Boise State player emerged for a Dallas defense that has lacked star power beyond 2016 All-Pro linebacker Sean Lee. Lawrence surpassed his previous career high of eight sacks in the fifth game.Pass rushing was a problem for the Cowboys each of their past two trips to the playoffs. In 2014, they finished 28th in sacks and couldn’t get to a hobbled Aaron Rodgers in a divisional loss to the Packers after Lawrence clinched a wild-card win over Detroit with a sack of Matthew Stafford.In the rematch with Rodgers, Dallas sacked him three times but couldn’t get a stop in the final minutes of a 34-31 loss in January 2017.Lawrence broke a foot in training camp his rookie year, missing half the season. His second year was Lawrence’s only full season, when he had 31 QB pressures to go with the eight sacks.After serving a four-game drug suspension to start 2016, he had three sacks in nine games before missing the final three regular-season games with a back injury. He played in the divisional loss to the Packers.
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