Game #38
Buffalo Sabres (14-19-4) vs. Dallas Stars (21-13-1)
Puck Drop: 8:00 PM EDT | American Airlines Center, Dallas TX
TV: Victory, MSG-B, ESPN+
Know Your Opponent
Dallas Stars
Record: 21-13-1 | 43 PTS
Last Game: 5-1 win over the Blackhawks
Division Ranking: 4th, Central
PP: 27th, 15.4% (18/117 opps) [Sabres: 26th, 16.0% (17/106 opps)]
PK: 5th, 84.7% (83/98 killed) [Sabres: 20th, 78.0% (92/118 killed)]
What to Watch
1. One Game At A Time
The 13-game skid might still be the end of yet another campaign to break the longest playoff drought in the NHL, but the Buffalo Sabres cannot do anything else but keep playing the games that sit in the schedule in front of them.
They’ve stitched together a nice three-game winning run since then, having played some of the worst teams in the league. That ends starting tonight however. The next three games are all against Western Conference powerhouses, and then Buffalo play a pair of games against fellow wildcard rivals.
Nothing that has transpired until this point matters now. The Sabres just have to take each game as it comes, trying to get better where they have gaps and try to take advantage of opponent weaknesses where they see them.
2. Special Teams Game
The Stars usually have very good power play units, but this season has been a bit of an anomaly for them. Tyler Seguin playing hurt hasn’t helped them, but the star forward is now out for four-six months after having surgery earlier this month. Dallas’ power play unit is at about the same level as the Sabres’ now.
Buffalo were boosted with two power play goals in St Louis that carried them to a 3-2 win, and will have to keep doing more of the same things to maintain that. Rasmus Dahlin rounding off into imperious form with the puck will only help that.
Dallas rank 4th in 5-v-5 xGF/60, and 6th in CF% and goal differential per game, well ahead of the Sabres in each of those categories. Any opportunities Buffalo get today on the power play they will need to nail.
3. Secondary Scoring
The Sabres have a couple of in-form forwards in Jiri Kulich and Zach Benson, and will need them to keep chipping in with goals and points. On a team with a not-so-prominent second line, any goals scored by a player not named Tuch, Thompson, or Zucker is like gold in them hills.
Also, it was just around Thanksgiving when the Sabres were in a divisional playoff spot that they lead the league having the highest percentage of their points coming from defensemen with 32.2%. That number has dropped to 29.5%, undoubtedly affected by Dahlin getting sidelined by injury. In the entire month of December, Buffalo only got three goals from dmen with Owen Power grabbing two and one from the unlikely source of Mattias Samuelsson.
The Sabres are going to need their dmen to do more than just play defense if they are looking to get back into any sort of contention.
Projected Lineups
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Jason Zucker – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka – Dylan Cozens – Jack Quinn
Zach Benson – Jiri Kulich – Peyton Krebs
Beck Malenstyn – Ryan McLeod – Sam Lefferty
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin – Bowen Byram
Mattias Samuelsson – Owen Power
Jacob Bryson – Connor Clifton
Goalies: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (projected starter), James Reimer
Dallas Stars
Forwards
Jason Robertson – Roope Hintz – Evgenii Dadonov
Jamie Benn – Matt Duchene – Wyatt Johnston
Oskar Back – Mavrik Bourque – Logan Stankoven
Justin Hryckowian – Sam Steel – Colin Blackwell
Defense
Miro Heiskanen – Thomas Harley
Esa Lindell – Matt Dumba
Nils Lundkvist – Ilya Lyubushkin
Goalies:
Jake Oettinger, Casey DeSmith (projected starter)