Red Wings aim to continue domination of Sabres

RED WINGS (10-7-7) at SABRES (5-18-1)

TV: FS-D, MSG-B, BELL TV

Last 10: Detroit 2-3-5; Buffalo 3-7-0

Season series: This is the second of four meetings between the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres this season. Detroit earned a 2-1 victory against Buffalo at Joe Louis Arena on Oct. 2. The Red Wings have won three home games since.

Big story: Detroit travels to Buffalo after going 1-2-0 on a three-game homestand, including a 4-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. The Red Wings, who are 10-1-1 in their past 12 games against the Sabres, have one win in their past nine games (1-3-5) and have fallen to fifth place in the Atlantic Division. The Sabres are beginning a three-game homestand. They are 1-3-0 under interim coach Ted Nolan.

Team Scope:

Red Wings: Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk erased a 2-1 deficit via the power play 1:08 into the third period, but Bobby Ryan scored less than three minutes later and Clarke MacArthur added an insurance goal with 4:02 remaining to hand the Red Wings another loss on home ice. Detroit is 1-2-6 at Joe Louis Arena since Oct. 15. Backup goaltender Jonas Gustavsson is expected to get the start Sunday.

"It never feels good when you lose, especially at home," center Darren Helm told Fox Sports Detroit. "We've got a big game tomorrow that we have to have a big effort for."

Sabres: Buffalo will be looking to end a three-game losing streak. The Sabres' woes continued with a 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday at Wells Fargo Center, a game that saw the Sabres commit eight penalties and give the Flyers a pair of 5-on-3 situations.

Buffalo's blue line will have a different look after the team promoted defenseman Alexander Sulzer from the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League on Saturday. It is Sulzer's second stint with the Sabres this season.

"I'm an older guy, even if I don't want to admit it," Sulzer, 29, told the Sabres' website. "I am now and he [Nolan] just wants me to be as calm as I usually play and just try to be solid. It's just when it gets scrambly a little bit that not everybody starts running around, that we just play in the zone like Teddy wants us to play and just don't freak out if one mistake happens. If one happens, everybody else makes up for it and then we're going to be fine."

Who's hot: Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg has six assists in span. … Sabres center Tyler Ennis has two goals and two assists in the past five games.

Injury report: Datsyuk did not make the trip after taking an elbow to the head Saturday. Red Wings general manager Ken Holland told Mlive.com that Datsyuk was kept home due to a possible concussion. Detroit defenseman Jakub Kindl (hip) played one shift in the third period Saturday and Red Wings coach Mike Babcock did not provide an update after the game. Right wing Daniel Alfredsson (groin) has missed five straight games but is expected to play against the Sabres. Right wing Todd Bertuzzi (upper body) did not play Saturday. Rookie defenseman Danny DeKeyser (separated left shoulder) is out 3-6 weeks and is on the long-term injured reserve list. … Sabres forward Cody McCormick (upper body) did not practice Saturday and is expected to miss at least one week.