Game 45

Buffalo Sabres (11-26-7) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (28-13-3)

Puck Drop: 3:00 PM EST | KeyBank Center | Buffalo, NY

TV: MSG

Radio: WGR 550

SB Nation Penguins Blog: PensBurgh

Know Your Opponent

Pittsburgh Penguins

Record: (28-13-3) | 59 PTS

Division Ranking: 2nd in East Division

PP: 10th (22.4%)

PK: 22nd (77.3%)

What to Watch

1. Run it back

Same time. Same place. The Sabres and Penguins will run it back after their close matchup yesterday afternoon. It was an entertaining game after the Penguins dominated the first period. We’ll see if the Sabres can take away the two points this afternoon.

2. Luukkonnen Debut?

Don Granato said earlier in the week is if he was healthy enough that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was going to play in the near future. He was added to the taxi squad yesterday, so we’ll see if he does make his NHL debut. If not it’ll likely be Michael Houser between the pipes also making his NHL debut.

3. Stay Hot Casey

Casey Mittelstadt has been excellent for the Sabres under Don Granato. He has seven goals and nine points in his last 10 games. His line with Tage Thompson and Rasmus Asplund has performed well. Thompson is on a bit of a scoring heater too with four goals in his last six games.

Projected Lineups

Buffalo Sabres

Forwards

Jeff Skinner - Sam Reinhart - Victor Olofsson

Rasmus Asplund - Casey Mittelstadt - Tage Thompson

Anders Bjork - Dylan Cozens - Arttu Ruotsalainen

Tobias Rieder - Cody Eakin - Steven Fogarty

Defense

Jacob Bryson - Rasmus Ristolainen

Rasmus Dahlin - Henri Jokiharju

Matt Irwin - Colin Miller

Starter: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Michael Houser

Pittsburgh Penguins

Forwards

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust

Jason Zucker - Jeff Carter - Jared McCann

Zach Aston-Reese - Teddy Blueger - Evan Rodrigues

Radim Zohorna - Mark Jankowski - Colton Sceviour

Defense

Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson - John Marino

Michael Matheson - Cody Ceci

Starter: Casey DeSmith