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Previous Post: Wings after 11 - stats

Pius Suter will try his hand at the top line as Larkin is still out with no update (out for personal reasons). Playing with Bertuzzi and Raymond may be a spark for the center. The 2nd line has been in constant flux with Larkin and Bertuzzi both out at times. (I feel for Zadina, hasn’t had a consistent line for most of his tenure). Blashill is playing the combination Bingo Ball/Yahtzee shaker in hopes of getting the team going.

Regardless of outcome, I want to see a group of “hot” Wings in Buffalo. Yes, I like garlic Parmesan quite a bit, but we need a waiver worthy effort from this team. Young guys who aren’t complacent can help spur the fireworks. But, if Buffalo gets going early it will be a big bowl of bleu cheese that will cool off and weigh down Detroit.

The numbers:
Of the five major categories in stats, Buffalo is stronger than Detroit in 4 of them. The Wings have the edge in faceoffs (49.6, 18th in the league to 46.1 27th in the league). Other than that, Buffalo is holding the advantage:
Buffalo is having 25.9% success on the power play (7th best in the league) to Detroit’s 15.4 (24th)
Buffalo’s PK is 4th best in the league with an impressive 89.3% compared to Detroit’s 70% (28th)

The Scotty Bowman number on special teams for Buffalo is 115.2! The Bowman rule is a combined 100 between the two. Detroit’s is 85.4. Stay out of the box gentlemen.

Buffalo’s goals for of 2.9 (16th) and goals against of 2.7 (12th) show them at a positive differential of .2. Detroit’s goals for of 2.73 (20th) and goals against of 3.55 (29th) has a differential of -.82. An overall differential of nearly .4+, nearly half a goal, goes in favor of a team that shipped out their franchise center, another very highly rated center and a defenseman that many people didn’t like but got a nice price.

I doubt Buffalo’s differentials will hold up for the season, but right now Detroit (after what felt like a strong start) is looking up at the Sabres.

We’ll see if someone can turn on the jets today and rally Detroit. Otherwise, the trip to the basement could go one more strong step forward.










Some of my previous posts:

Previous Post: Wings after 11 - stats

Previous post: Bergeron with power play hat trick plus one

Previous post: Wings without Larkin again

Previous Post: Hungry Habs Hamstring and Humble Wings

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