Game #17
St. Louis Blues (7-9-0) vs. Buffalo Sabres (7-8-1)
Puck Drop: 7:30 PM EST | KeyBank Center | Buffalo, NY
TV: ESPN+, Hulu
Radio: WGR 550
Know Your Opponent
St. Louis Blues
Record: 7-9-0 | 14 PTS
Last Game: 3-2 loss vs. Boston Bruins
Last 10: 3-7-0
Division Ranking: 6th in the Central Division
PP: 26th (15%)
PK: 21st (77.8%)
What to Watch
1. Injuries
There are two minor concerns for the Sabres right now: Tage Thompson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Thompson left the ice during Monday’s game against Montreal after suffering a lower-body injury in the second period and did not return. This will greatly impact the offensive momentum that Buffalo has slowly – but surely – gained during this first month of the regular season. Another impactful, but minor injury is with goaltender Luukkonen, who missed Wednesday’s practice after missing the third period of Monday’s game. Both are expected to be out at least until Nov. 16.
Another loss from the lineup is much more significant: Mattias Samuelsson. Though head coach Lindy Ruff benched him for a few games last week, the injury-prone defenseman left Monday’s game with a lower-body ailment as well. It was confirmed on Wednesday that he will miss several weeks of game time. And, while his injury will not require surgery, it sure feels like Samuelsson is made of glass during his few short seasons with the Sabres thus. To put things in perspective, he only played 41 games last season and 55 the year before.
2. Pucks to the Net
If the Sabres can get their offense going right away and keep their foot off the break, a victory against the visiting Blues is easily attainable. This seems obvious, but let’s look at how each team has been doing on offense lately: St Louis is averaging 2.3 goals per game in their last 10 while Buffalo’s average is 3.7. In their last three games alone, the Sabres have scored a total of 14 goals. Though they lost their matchup against the Canadiens earlier this week, they still managed five goals.
Another piece of advice? Stay out of the penalty box. Buffalo is 23rd in the league on the penalty kill and, so far this season, has been taking a ton of penalties. Montreal scored two power play goals against Buffalo on Monday – it could be argued that if those penalties were killed, the Sabres would have forced an overtime and earned at least one point. Special teams remain a work in progress.
3. Keep An Eye On…
Blues’ center Brayden Schenn will be one player to watch tonight. The Canadian forward is just a handful of points shy of reaching his 400th with St Louis. In addition to playing in the last 180 games – consecutively – he got the Blues on the board first against Boston Tuesday night.
On the same line as Schenn is Jordan Kyrou, another hot player to watch. Kyrou has the most points on St. Louis with 14 – five goals and nine assists, respectively, and two of those goals were game-winning ones.
Projected Lineups
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Zach Benson – Ryan McLeod – Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka – Dylan Cozens – Jack Quinn
Jordan Greenway – Peyton Krebs – Jason Zucker
Beck Malenstyn – Sam Lafferty – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin – Bowen Byram
Owen Power – Jacob Bryson
Dennis Gilbert – Connor Clifton
Goaltenders: Devon Levi (confirmed starter), James Reimer
St. Louis Blues
Forwards
Jake Neighbours – Pavel Buchnevich – Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad – Brayden Schenn – Dylan Holloway
Alexey Toropchenko – Radek Faksa – Nathan Walker
Mattieu Joseph – Oskar Sundqvist – Kasperi Kapanen
Defense
Ryan Suter – Colton Parayko
Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Justin Faulk
Scott Perunovich – Matthew Kessel
Goaltenders: Jordan Binnington (confirmed starter), Joel Hofer