Game 70: Sabres at Canucks Preview & Open Thread
Buffalo Sabres (33-31-5) vs. Vancouver Canucks (42-18-8)
Puck Drop: 10:00 PM EST, Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
TV: MSG, ESPN+
Radio: WGR550
Know Your Opponent
Vancouver Canucks
Record: 42-18-8
Last Game: 2-1 loss to Washington Capitals
Division Ranking: 1st, Pacific
PP: 22.5%, 11th (Sabres 26th, 16.9%)
PK: 78.6%, 20th (Sabres 19th, 79.2%)
What To Watch For
1. No Room For Error
The Sabres have basically run out of second chances. That teeny-tiny miniscule chance of making the playoffs has bloomed to 7.2% on MoneyPuck, but it also means Buffalo will pretty much have to win out all thirteen remaining games to ensure they’re in. There will be games that they could lose, against out of conference opponents, but there’s not too many of those.
That is likely what went on behind the scenes with the decision to take Devon Levi on the West Coast swing and to give him the start tonight. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been one of the best goalies in the league recently, and him getting the pipes last night to ensure they won a winnable game was the right decision as it secured a minimum of two points. Anything Levi can get tonight is a bonus.
2. The Best in the West
The Canucks might be faltering a bit having lost two games in a row and are now 5-3-2 in their last ten games, but they are still the torch-bearers out in the Western Conference. Rick Tocchet is not one to let his players get into a slump for too long, and especially at this crucial juncture of the season when they will be looking to seal up the top seed spot in the conference, and are still in with a shout at the Presidents’ Trophy mantle as well.
Vancouver are the highest scorers in the league 5v5, so Buffalo’s performance last night against the Kraken will be encouraging. Hopefully the Sabres still have a few goals in them after that offensive outburst, especially given that there will be two very familiar faces on the Canucks blue line from a few years ago in gangly giraffe Tyler Myers and bruising bull Nikita Zadorov.
3. Back-to-back Issues?
The Sabres are only 3-7-0 in the second half of back-to-back games this season. Vancouver meanwhile are well-rested having lost to one of the Sabres’ wildcard rivals the Capitals over the weekend. Buffalo will need to ensure they start strong and not run out of gas later in the game, or else they could easily get blown out by one of the better teams in the league.
Whenever they’ve won the first game in a back-to-back, they’ve lost the second, usually in a blowout. The three times they have won the second game, they lost the first clash. If they can somehow find a way to win both games in this back-to-back set, they can really start applying pressure on the teams right above them in the table.
#SabresAfterDark shall prevail!
Projected Lineups
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Zemgus Girgensons – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
Jordan Greenway – Peyton Krebs – Jeff Skinner
Zach Benson – Dylan Cozens – JJ Peterka
Eric Robinson – Tyson Jost – Victor Olofsson
Defense
Bowen Byram – Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power – Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson – Connor Clifton
Goaltenders: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Devon Levi (projected starter)
(No morning skate, Granato presser later today)
Vancouver Canucks
Forwards
Nils Hoglander – Elias Pettersson – Conor Garland
Pius Suter – J.T. Miller – Brock Boeser
Ilya Mikheyev – Elias Lindholm – Sam Lafferty
Vasily Podkolzin – Teddy Blueger – Nils Aman
Defense
Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek
Ian Cole – Tyler Myers
Nikita Zadorov – Carson Soucy
Goaltenders: Casey DeSmith (projected starter), Arturs Silovs
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