Game #54
Buffalo Sabres (23-26-4) vs. Minnesota Wild (25-23-5)
Puck Drop: 5:00 PM EST | Xcel Energy Center | St. Paul, MN
TV: MSG
Radio: WGR-550
Know Your Opponent
Minnesota Wild
Record: 25-23-5
Last Game: 3-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes
Division Ranking: 6th in the Central Division
PP Ranking: 17th (20.6%)
PK Ranking: 28th (74.7%)
What to Watch
1) Looking for Five
The Wild have been on a hot streak as of late, going 7-3-0 in their last ten games. They enter Saturday on a four-game winning streak. Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy are both on three-game point streaks. Boldy has seven points, including four assists, while Eriksson Ek has five points, including three goals. Jonas Brodin has points in three of his last four games.
Filip Gustavsson is expected to get the start in net on Saturday, and he’s mostly been splitting the season with Marc-Andre Fleury. Gustavsson, 25, has a 15-13-2 record in 31 games this season, with a 3.19 GAA and .897 save percentage. His last game was February 12, a 5-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights. He also has two shutouts.
2) Injury & Roster Updates
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is expected to be back in net for the Sabres on Saturday after missing Thursday’s game against the Panthers. Luukkonen has undoubtedly been Buffalo’s best netminder this season, with a 13-13-2 record with a 2.51 GAA and .913 save percentage. The support from the rest of the team isn’t always there, but it’s still a relief to have him back in the lineup.
Jack Quinn recently joined Mattias Samuelsson on IR, and Owen Power remains out.
The Sabres have also tweaked some of their lines in practice, including putting Peyton Krebs on a line with Zach Benson and JJ Peterka. That’s certainly an exciting trio to watch in today’s game.
3) Shots, Shots, Shots
The Sabres are 10th in the NHL entering Saturday’s games, averaging 31.8 shots on goal per game. Buffalo certainly had no problem getting shots on net Thursday, with 45 shots against a stellar Anthony Stolarz that marked a franchise record high in shots on goal in a shutout. The key, of course, is not just getting shots on net, but getting higher-danger chances, finding space to get pucks straight on net rather than from off angles, and getting the goaltender moving to capitalize on those opportunities.
The Sabres are also eighth in the league in shots against, averaging 29.3 against per game.
Projected Lineups
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Jeff Skinner – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
Casey Mittelstadt – Dylan Cozens – Jordan Greenway
Zach Benson – Peyton Krebs – JJ Peterka
Victor Olofsson – Zemgus Girgensons – Kyle Okposo
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin – Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson – Connor Clifton
Ryan Johnson – Erik Johnson
Goaltenders
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (likely starter), Eric Comrie
Minnesota Wild
Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov – Joel Eriksson Ek – Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson – Marco Rossi – Mats Zuccarello
Brandon Duhaime – Ryan Hartman – Frederick Gaudreau
Jake Lucchini – Connor Dewar – Vinni Lettieri
Defense
Jacob Middleton – Brock Faber
Jonas Brodin – Zach Bogosian
Alex Goligoski – Declan Chisholm
Goaltenders
Filip Gustavsson (likely starter), Marc-Andre Fleury
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