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Happy Dyngus Day, Buffalo.
It's definitely a sweat pants kinda day, right?
You know that you ate far too many pierogies, ham, sides, sponge candy, almond ring danish, and washed it all down with Ellicottville Brewing Company 2 Brothers IPA.
You plan on taking it deep at the Dyngus Day parade at the Central Terminal later today.
Your Sabres are in Daytwa to face the desperate Red Wings.
The Sabres will miss the playoffs for the sixth spring in a row and are playing spoiler.
The Sabres dug themselves out of a 2-0 hole to comeback and beat the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon. Rookies Hudson Fasching, Jack Eichel, and Samson Reinhart scored and put on a special show of pyrotechnics in front of their home fans.
The Wings have won three of four games against the Buffalo Sabres (3-1-0), including the past two games by a combined 7-3 score.
The Sabres-v-Wings game within the game:
Justin Abdelkader has two goals and four points to lead the Red Wings. Petr Mrazek has started all four games for Detroit, with a 2.23 goals-against average, .922 save % and one shutout.
Rasmus Ristolainen has five assists for the Sabres, who have gotten two goals each from rookie Jack Eichel and Evander Kane.
Chad Johnson will start his fifth straight game while Robin Lehner rests his sore ankle. Johnson has won its past two games and three of four.
Johnson has won seven of his past eight starts.
The Sabres are 6-3-3 in March.
Hudson Fasching and defenseman Casey Nelson made their NHL debuts in the Sabres' 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, with each recording their first NHL points on Fasching's goal. Rookies Eichel and Sam Reinhart scored the other goals.
The Wings are tied with the Philadelphia Flyers in points (85), but the Flyers have played one fewer game and hold the final wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Red Wings have qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs in 24 straight seasons and are at serious risk of missing the tournament.
Wings coach Jeff Blashill told the Red Wings' website the he didn't know whether Mrazek or Jimmy Howard would start against Eichel and the Sabres.
Mrazek has been a yard sale lately. He has been pulled in three of his past eight appearances, and is 3-5-0 with a 3.55 GAA and an .889 save % in nine appearances this month after going 6-2-2 with a 2.31 GAA and .910 save % in February.
"Our team hasn't been good enough defensively, so we've got to be better for them," Blashill told the Red Wings website. "I've always felt that goaltending follows team defense, so we'll take responsibility for that."
The Red Wings dropped to 5-7-0 in March after laying and egg by getting annihilated 7-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena on Easter Sunday.
The Wings desperately need both points tonight. The Sabres will not go quietly into that good night though.
The Philadelphia Flyers host the beat up and weary Winnipeg Jets on Monday night.
