Red Wings-Sabres: Detroit Continues Rally Toward Playoffs with Monday Victory

As the playoffs come closer and closer, the Detroit Red Wings seem to finally be getting it together. They battled the Buffalo Sabres Monday night with another victory, 4-1.

Both teams came out strong in the first period. Buffalo showed some great chances, but it was Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood who started out the strongest, and in the end it all paid off.

Detroit seemed to get shaky for a bit but pulled it together as Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen both had chances.

Tensions flared after a high stick to Franzen drew blood, but no penalty was called.

Later in the second period, Jonathon Ericsson got into a scrum after a clean hit from Valterri Filppula didn't settle well with the Sabers players.

Brad Stuart got the Wings on the board with a powerplay goal, giving his team a 1-0 lead.

Marian Hossa scored his 39th goal of the season early in the third period on a rebound shot from Nick Lidstrom, making it 2-0 Detroit.

It didnt take long before he made his 39th goal of the season his 40th, sending a rocket shot into the net to give Detroit a 3-0 advantage.

As Buffalo finally got chances, the puck couldn't be settled down, and with rebound after rebound, Paul Gaustad finally got one past Osgood to get his team on the board, for a score of 3-1.

Buffalo pulled goaltender Ryan Miller for the extra man at the end of the third, but Lidstrom scored an empty-net goal to give Detroit a 4-1 lead and the victory.

Thursday night as Detroit battled Nashville, in a must need win for Nashville to be apart in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they did just that as the won in a shoot-out.