Eight is Enough
Buffalo Sabres (11-14-4) vs. Washington Capitals (20-6-2)
Puck Drop: 7:00 PM EST | Capital One Arena, Wash. D.C.
TV: MSG-B, ESPN+
Know Your Opponent
Washington Capitals
Record: (20-6-2) | 42 PTS
Last Game: 2-1 OT win over Columbus
Division Ranking: 1st, Metropolitan
PP: 16th, 21.2% (Sabres: 30th, 14.1%)
PK: 4th, 83.7% (Sabres: 12th, 80.6%)
Desperate Times
The Buffalo Sabres come into Saturday’s game against Washington in desperate need of a win. They have dropped an astonishing 8 games in a row. The schedule won’t be kind either as the team looks to break this slump. The Capitals lead the Metro division and are one of the top teams in the league right now. Buffalo then faces Toronto on Sunday in back to back games. Can the Sabres stop the bleeding and put together a win or two? Or will the madness continue? It will take a tremendous team effort in either contest to win.
First things first, the Capitals are really cooking right now. Having squeaked into the playoffs last season, (and being soundly swept) Washington retooled this off season and the results show. Goaltender Logan Thompson is one of the main improvements to the roster. He has a highly impressive record of 11-1-2 in 14 games.
Meanwhile, 27 year old Dylan Strome leads the Caps with 36 points in 28 games. How nice would he look on the Sabres roster? He is having the best season of his career. The old man Alex Ovechkin continues his march towards the record books. He has an astounding 15 goals in just 18 games. Ovi seems close to returning from injury soon but the Sabres should avoid him in this game. He has been skating the last 5 days but looks to be at least another week out from return.
Get the Hell Out of There
The Sabres are back on the road thankfully, where they have a .500 record at least. They lost all 5 games of the home stand in new and dramatic fashion each night. Buffalo is a dreadful 6-9-3 at Keybank Center this season. The home record has been a thorn in the side of this team for several years now. Highly disappointing results for both them and the increasingly disillusioned fans.
Maybe a road trip against tough competition can clear their heads and get them back on track. Or maybe these 3 games in 4 nights (Montreal being the third) will signal the beginning of the end. The games are coming fast and furious with Buffalo playing 6 times in the next 9 days. By Christmas we should have a good idea of where this team stands, if we don’t already.
Rasmus to the Rescue on Hold?
There was hope that captain Rasmus Dahlin would be back in action tonight but as of Friday, that looks doubtful. According to head coach Lindy Ruff: “The good part is he’s skating and he’s getting some conditioning in. The hard part is you’d like to get into practices and battles, but we’re not quite there yet.” Dahlin’s availability looks doubtful for today and iffy for the Leafs game too. Additionally, Jordan Greenway missed practice on Friday. His availability today is in doubt. Sam Lafferty is back at practice and may play this weekend.
Projected Lineups
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
JJ Peterka – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
Zach Benson – Jiri Kulich – Dylan Cozens
Jason Zucker– Ryan McLeod – Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn – Peyton Krebs – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defense
Ryan Johnson – Bowen Byram
Owen Power – Mattias Samuelsson
Dennis Gilbert – Connor Clifton
Goalies: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (projected starter), James Reimer
Washington Capitals
Forwards
Aliaksei Protas – Dylan Strome – Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Taylor Raddysh
Hendrix LaPierre– Lars Eller– Andrew Mangiapane
Brandon Duhaime – Nick Dowd – Ivan Miroshnichenko
Defense
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin – Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun – Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Goalies: Logan Thompson (projected starter), Charlie Lindgren
