The Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres meet Monday in NHL action at the KeyBank Center. The Detroit Red Wings look for a win after splitting their first 8 games. The Buffalo Sabres look for a win after winning 4 of their last 6 games.

The Detroit Red Wings are averaging 3.13 goals per game and are scoring on 19.4 percent of their power play opportunities. Dominik Kubalik leads Detroit with 4 goals, Dylan Larkin has 6 assists and Lucas Raymond has 21 shots on goal. Defensively, the Detroit Red Wings are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 84 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Ville Husso has given up 12 goals on 162 shots faced, and Alex Nedeljkovic has allowed 12 goals on 109 shots.

The Buffalo Sabres are averaging 3.63 goals per game and are scoring on 20.7 percent of their power play opportunities. Alex Tuch leads Buffalo with 6 goals, Vinnie Hinostroza has 5 assists and Tage Thompson has 30 shots on goal. Defensively, the Buffalo Sabres are allowing 2.75 goals per game and are killing 78.6 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Eric Comrie has given up 17 goals on 186 shots faced, and Craig Anderson has given up 5 goals on 92 shots.

The Red Wings are 25-79 in their last 104 road games and 69-144 in their last 213 overall. The Sabres are 5-2 in their last 7 home games and 7-20 in their last 27 Monday games. The over is 4-1-1 in Red Wings last 6 overall. The under is 7-2-1 in Sabres last 10 overall. The Red Wings are 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Buffalo and 4-0 in the last 4 meetings. The favorite is 29-11 in the last 40 meetings. The road team is 10-4 in the last 14 meetings.

The Detroit Red Wings have been fade material on the road for years, and their hit or miss efforts this season overall doesn’t inspire much confidence. The Buffalo Sabres are off to one of their better starts in recent memory, and their defensive effort is encouraging. The Sabres are enjoying one of their better stretches in quite some time. This line is soft. I’ll side with the Sabres at home.