Game #46

Buffalo Sabres (18-18-9) at Montreal Canadiens (28-13-6)

Puck drop: 7:00 p.m. EST | Bell Centre | Montreal, QC

TV: MSG, SN, TVAS | Radio: WGR 550

SB Nation’s Canadiens Blog: Eyes on the Prize

Two Questions

1. How will Ristolainen feel today?

Risto was a monster last night, setting a career-high in ice time at 35:24 in the overtime victory. With that much playing time combined with the back-to-back scheduling, will his legs fall off before the third period, or will the young defenseman rise to the occasion once again?

2. Speaking of defense, how will the bottom four play tonight?

With the injury to Jake McCabe last night, the Sabres were forced to recall Casey Nelson from Rochester, who will play alongside Justin Falk, Taylor Fedun, and Cody Franson. Yikes.

Nelson struggled mightily last time we saw him in Buffalo, and the well-known sluggishness of the Sabres blueline will have their hands full with the speedy Habs.

Projected Buffalo Lines

63 Tyler Ennis – 90 Ryan O’Reilly – 21 Kyle Okposo
82 Marcus Foligno – 15 Jack Eichel – 23 Sam Reinhart
9 Evander Kane – 28 Zemgus Girgensons – 12 Brian Gionta
48 William Carrier – 19 Cal O’Reilly – 26 Matt Moulson

41 Justin Falk – 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
47 Zach Bogosian – 6 Cody Franson
34 Casey Nelson – 38 Taylor Fedun

Goal: 40 Robin Lehner