Surging Sabres Seeking More Success
Vegas Golden Knights (28-18-14) at Buffalo Sabres (35-19-6)
Puck Drop: 7:00 PM | Keybank Center | Buffalo, New York
TV: MSG-B, ESPN+
Radio: WGR 550
Know Your Opponent
Vegas Golden Knights
Record: 28-18-14 70 PTS
Division Ranking: 1st in Pacific Division
Last Game: Lost 5-0 to Pittsburgh
PP: 6th (25.6%) | Sabres Rank: 16th (20.0%)
PK: 10th (80.6%) | Sabres Rank: 6th (82.8%)
What to Watch
1. On a Heater
The Buffalo Sabres are surging since the Olympic break ended, rattling off three straight victories on the road. They edged New Jersey first, then swept the state of Florida on back to back nights. Now they come home again where they will play six of their next seven. Even with all the winning, Detroit, Montreal and Boston keep hanging around like a fly landing on your picnic plate. It remains a tight race for now, with Buffalo looking to create more separation.
Tonight, the Sabres face the Golden Knights and old “friend” Jack Eichel. Him and Tage Thompson are still fresh off Olympic gold for the U.S.A. hockey team. Buffalo will honor TNT with a “Gold Medal Homecoming” ceremony before the game. All fans in attendance will receive a commemorative TNT gold medal rally towel as well. It will be interesting to see fellow Olympic champion Jack Eichel in the ceremony too, (we have confirmation from Tage that he will) and the reception he will get from the Sabres’ faithful. Noah Hanifin for Vegas won gold as well and will participate.
2. Vegas Victories More Sparse this Year
Vegas is once again in first place in the Pacific, but the Anaheim Ducks are nipping at their heels. The Knights only have 28 victories to the Quackers’ 33 wins, with Jack Eichel and company living off their loser points to inch them out. The team is tied with the Kings with a whopping 14 OT/SO points. They are dropping more games than usual but salvaging that point that still adds up in the standings. By comparison, the Sabres have seven more wins than Vegas but only six more points than them. Buffalo is also battling like hell for second place in the Atlantic division while the Knights currently sit in first in the Pacific. Such is life in the Eastern Conference this season.
3. Git-R-Done
The Sabres have to take care of their own business and continue their winning ways. Otherwise, Detroit, Montreal and Boston will continue to try and use the Sabres’ potato salad as a landing pad. Only Buffalo can shoo them away for good by piling up more and more victories. It’s a bit of a long shot, but passing Tampa and grabbing first place is still a possibility too.
Golden Knights captain Mark Stone left his team’s game at Pittsburgh on Sunday because of an undisclosed injury. His availability for the game tonight is in question. Vegas as a team has been playing lackluster hockey lately, hopefully the Sabres can jump on them early. Pavel Dorofeyev for the Knights and Tage Thompson for the Sabres both lead their respective teams with six points in their last five games.
Projected Lineups
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Krebs – Thompson – Tuch
Ostlund – Norris – Doan
Zucker – McLeod – Quinn
Benson – Kozak – Malenstyn
Defense
Samuelsson – Dahlin
Byram – Power
Metsa – Kesselring
Goalies
Lyon, Luukkonen
Vegas Golden Knights
Forwards
Barbashev – Eichel – Stone?
Smith – Marner – Dorofeyev
Bowman – Hertl – Kolesar
Saad – Sissons – Reinhardt
Defense
Lauzon – Theodore
Hanifin – Andersson
McNabb – Korczak
Goalies
Hill, Schmid