Game 60
Buffalo Sabres (28-24-7) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (46-11-4)
Puck Drop: 7:30 PM EST | Amalie Arena | Tampa, FL
TV: MSG-B
Radio: WGR 550
SB Nation Lightning Blog: Raw Charge
Know Your Opponent
Tampa Bay Lightning
Record: (46-11-4) | 96 PTS
Last 10: 8-0-2
Division Ranking: 1st in Atlantic Division
Conference Ranking: 1st in Eastern Conference
PP: 1st (30.2%)
PK: 2nd (85.1%)
What to Watch
Something to tie your anchor to
It’s been a rough month for the Buffalo Sabres. It’s been a rough few months for the team. After a chunk of games against lesser opponents, the Sabres will face some of their toughest challenges, starting with a matchup against the league’s best team.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are at the top of the league in most categories. They are second in the league on the penalty kill, and at home, have allowed goals less than 12 percent of the time.
The good news? Buffalo has allowed fewer power play goals against. Despite the fact that the team has a worse penalty kill percentage by a small margin, their 28 goals against on the kill is third in the league and bests Tampa by one.
The Lightning’s power play is indeed mighty, capitalizing on nearly one out of every three changes. But Buffalo one of the few teams that may be able to shut it down.
Playing odds
Buffalo has won two of their last six, and are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games. Since the team last played the Lighting on January 12, they’ve essentially won one out of every three games. After dropping two straight matches, it’s time for the somewhat-predictable bounceback.
It won’t be easy. The Sabres will likely face starter Andrei Vasilevskiy, who did not play on February 19. The young netminder has a career high .930 save percentage, a career low 2.28 goals against average, and an incredible 25.65 goals saved above average. Hopefully reuniting the BU teammates in Evan Rodriguez and Jack Eichel will help to spark the team.
At the time of writing, superstar defender Victor Hedman is day-to-day with an unspecified lower body injury. This takes a little edge off of the Lightning’s offense and makes it a little easier for Buffalo in the offensive zone. Hopefully, they can catch Vasilevskiy on an off-night, and take advantage of Hedman’s absence.
Be true
The standings demonstrate a lack of success from the team in one sense, but there have been improvements. The team has jumped 11 spots in shots per game to round out the top 10 – even holding a slight edge on the Lightning. The team’s biggest issue is that they are in the bottom-third of the league in goals-for per game, with only 2.81. It’s nearly half a goal per game better than last season, but scoring in general for the league is up that same margin.
If the team can find better shot selection and bury more of their top-10 shot rate, it will be much easier to find ways to win. It would be nice to give these goaltenders some scoring support after leaving them out to dry for the better part of 40 games.
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Jeff Skinner – Jack Eichel – Evan Rodriguez
Conor Sheary – Casey Mittelstadt – Sam Reinhart
Zemgus Girgensons – Johan Larsson – Jason Pominville
CJ Smith – Vladimir Sabotka – Tage Thompson
Defense
Jake McCabe– Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin – Zach Bogosian
Nathan Beaulieu – Casey Nelson
Marco Scandella – Jake McCabe
Lawrence Pilut – Matt Hunwick
Starting Goaltender: Carter Hutton (unconfirmed)
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards
Ondrej Palat – Steven Stamkos – JT Miller
Yanni Gourde – Tyler Johnson – Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn – Anthony Cirelli – Adam Erne
Danick Martel – Cedric Paquette – Ryan Callahan
Defense
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev – Dan Girardi
Brayden Coburn – Anton Stralman
Starting Goaltender: Andrei Vasilevskiy