Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings are set to begin their first back-to-back road series of the 2025-26 NHL season with a game against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Wednesday. The matchup, which starts at 7:30 p.m., will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit Extra and TNT, with streaming available via HBO MAX. Radio coverage is provided by 97.1 The Ticket.

Detroit enters the contest with a 5-1-0 record and aims to secure its sixth consecutive win. The team recently concluded a three-game homestand by defeating the Edmonton Oilers 4-2, with captain Dylan Larkin and rookie Emmitt Finnie each scoring twice. During that game, the Red Wings limited Edmonton to just 11 shots in the first two periods and scored three goals in the second period.

Head coach Todd McLellan commented on his team's approach: “We’re starting to figure out who we are and what works for us,” he said. “On the road, you can’t get away with wasting minutes…Sometimes at home, you can get away with that a little bit. On the road, teams make you pay. When the gun goes off, we have to be ready to run.”

Forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygård spoke about team morale: “It’s been a good vibe in the group,” he said. “We just have to keep going.”

Detroit will be without veteran forward Patrick Kane for this road trip due to an upper-body injury. Kane did not play in Sunday's game and was absent from Tuesday's practice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center. McLellan explained Kane’s status: “He did skate [on Tuesday], which is a good sign,” McLellan said Kane, who has two goals and three assists in five games this season. “We’ll evaluate him when we get back for the Saturday game.”

To compensate for Kane’s absence on the power play—currently operating at a rate of 22.2 percent—Marco Kasper practiced with Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, and Moritz Seider on Detroit’s top unit during Tuesday’s session.

McLellan addressed adjustments on special teams: “We don’t really know what we have or what it will look like,” he said. “We needed some good practice time, which we had [on Tuesday]. Kasp is there. He is his own player. If we expect him to be Patrick Kane and do some of the things that Patrick does, then we’ll probably be disappointed. But if we view Kasp, if it is him, for what Kasp is and the strengths he has then he can be just fine there. He’ll fill that hole, or whoever goes there will fill that hole. We still expect a high-end performance out of that special team.”

Buffalo comes into Wednesday's matchup after losing 4-2 to Montreal but has won two of its last three games overall this season (2-4-0). Zach Benson leads Buffalo in points with six assists over his current three-game point streak; Josh Doan (two goals, three assists) and Rasmus Dahlin (five assists) follow closely behind.

Goaltender Alex Lyon joined Buffalo as a free agent this summer after playing for Detroit between 2023 and 2025; he currently holds a .924 save percentage across six games.

Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider described facing Buffalo: “There’s definitely a little more emotion than other games, especially because they have such an interesting playing style,” Seider said. “Almost like lingering behind and waiting for easy offense. We need to be prepared and dialed in right from the start.”