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Game 45
Buffalo Sabres (23-15-6) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (34-8-2)
Puck Drop: 7:00 PM | KeyBank Center | Buffalo, NY
TV: MSG-B
Radio: WGR 550
SB Nation Lightning blog: Raw Charge
Know Your Opponent
Tampa Bay Lightning
Record: (34-8-2) | 70 points
Last 10: 9-1-0
Division Ranking: 1st in the Atlantic Division
Conference Ranking: 1st in the Eastern Conference
PP: 1st (30.0%)
PK: 8th (83.1%)
What to Watch
1. Looking for a win
It won’t be easy, but the Sabres have done pretty well against the Lightning thus far this season. Buffalo beat Tampa 2-1 during their 10-game winning streak earlier this season. The Sabres then lost to the Lightning 5-4 in the game that ended the streak. Despite the fact that Tampa is such a good team, both of those games being one-goal decisions points to good things.
2. Hello, and goodbye
Tonight’s game at KeyBank Center is the last Sabres home game of the month. They’ll head out on the Western Canada road trip next week, then break for the NHL All-Star Game. The Sabres finish the month with trips to Columbus and Dallas.
The good news: they then play seven straight home games beginning on February 1.
3. Ullmark time
With Carter Hutton playing last night in the loss to Carolina, it’s likely that Linus Ullmark will be tending net for the Sabres this evening. Ullmark is 9-2-0-3 this season with a 2.69 GAA and .924 save percentage. If he plays tonight, this would be his first game against Tampa since April 9, 2017.
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Jeff Skinner - Jack Eichel - Tage Thompson
Conor Sheary - Vladimir Sobotka - Sam Reinhart
Zemgus Girgensons - Casey Mittelstadt - Jason Pominville
Evan Rodrigues - Johan Larsson - Kyle Okposo
Defense
Lawrence Pilut - Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin - Zach Bogosian
Marco Scandella - Jake McCabe
Nathan Beaulieu - Matt Hunwick
Starting Goaltender: Linus Ullmark (unconfirmed)
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards
Ondrej Palat - Steven Stamkos - Alex Killorn
Tyler Johnson - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Adam Erne - Anthony Cirelli - Yanni Gourde
Danick Martel - Cedric Paquette - Mathieu Joseph
Defense
Victor Hedman - Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn - Anton Stralman
Starting Goaltender: Andrei Vasilevskiy (unconfirmed)