Game 35

Buffalo Sabres (6-23-5) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (17-13-4)

Puck Drop: 7:30 PM EST | KeyBank Center | Buffalo, NY

TV: NBCSN

Radio: WGR 550

SB Nation Flyers Blog: Broad Street Hockey

Know Your Opponent

Philadelphia Flyers

Record: 17-13-4

Last 10: 4-5-1

Division Ranking: 5th in the East

PP: 18th (20.4%)

PK: 29th (73.3%)

1. We Meet Again

Are we getting tired of seeing the same teams play the Sabres over and over again yet? This season has been a wild one, but one thing I’ll be glad to get rid of (hopefully) after this NHL season is this reduced schedule against only a handful of teams. While it certainly helps to boost familiarity and breed rivalry, it’s also a bit tiresome. Tonight’s game is the seventh of eight meetings between the Sabres and Flyers this season, and Buffalo is 1-7-2 in their last 10 games against the Flyers.

2. Back-to-Back

Tonight’s meeting opens up a back-to-back set of games for the Sabres. It’s the 10th of such occurrences for Buffalo, who will then face the New York Rangers on Thursday evening. The Sabres are 2-7-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets this season, and we all know the losing streak they’re carrying into tonight’s game. Regardless, they’ll have to compete tonight and then immediately shift focus to Thursday’s game.

3. A Full Sixty

It’s important that the Sabres play a full sixty minutes this evening, something they’ve failed to do recently. They’ve had a better start as of late, but then drop off midway or in the third game and then things simply fall part. They need a well-rounded effort through the full game (and overtime, if need be) in order to get out of this hole.

Projected Lineup

Buffalo Sabres (projected, optional morning skate)

Forwards

Taylor Hall - Casey Mittelstadt - Tage Thompson

Victor Olofsson - Riley Sheahan - Sam Reinhart

Jeff Skinner - Curtis Lazar - Kyle Okposo

Tobias Rieder - Cody Eakin - Steven Fogarty

Defense

Jacob Bryson - Rasmus Ristolainen

Brandon Montour - Colin Miller

Rasmus Dahlin - Henri Jokiharju

Starting Goaltender: Linus Ullmark

Philadelphia Flyers (projected)

Forwards

Claude Giroux - Kevin Hayes - Joel Farabee

James van Riemsdyk - Sean Couturier - Travis Konecny

Carsen Twarynski - Connor Bunnaman - Jakub Voracek

Michael Raffl - Scott Laughton - Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Defense

Travis Sanheim - Philippe Myers

Ivan Provorov - Justin Braun

Erik Gustafsson - Sam Morin

Starting Goaltender: Brian Elliott