Sabres at Flyers Preview: Wait, who’s getting scratched again?

The Buffalo Sabres have some new old faces in town, thanks to the recent organizational shakeup that saw three youngsters sent to their respective minor league teams, while Luke Adam and Brayden McNabb have been recalled.

Now they get the Philadelphia Flyers, who, after a start almost as rough as Buffalo’s, have come on strongly to climb back into the playoff race. Healthy scratches are the news of the day, and the lineup will feature a trio of new players from Buffalo’s last horrible game against the Blues.

Game #24

Buffalo Sabres (5-17-1) at Philadelphia Flyers (8-10-2)

Puck Drop – 7:00pm EST – Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, PA
TV – MSG, Bell, CSN-PH | Radio – WGR 550-AM
SBNation Flyers Blog – Broad Street Hockey

Three Questions

1. New guys. Adam and McNabb. How they gonna do?

Adam will bring his AHL leading goal total to the NHL, and will hopefully add some punch to a too-often listless Sabres offense. He’ll certainly get a chance to play with decent players, as it appears he’ll be lining up with Steve Ott and Zemgus Girgensons. McNabb will play in place of Mark Pysyk, and will – wait, WTF?

2. Will the Sabres regret scratching three of their top young players tonight in Pysyk, Flynn, and Tropp?

No one really seems to know why the Sabres scratch anyone these days, because today they’re scratching Mark Pysyk, Brian Flynn, and Corey Tropp, three of the hardest working, highest puck-possessing players on a squad that preaches hard work and puck possession but usually fails miserably.

In their place are Adam, McNabb, and (drumroll) Grigorenko, who apparently has been badgering interim coach Ted Nolan the past few practices about being a healthy scratch. This will be Grigo’s first chance to play under the new head coach, so he better come out of the gate fired up tonight.

3. Will any dumb Ray Emery-related stuff happen tonight?

Let’s hope not.

Projected BUF Lines

Matt Moulson – Cody Hodgson – Drew Stafford
Zemgus Girgensons – Steve Ott – Luke Adam
Tyler Ennis – Marcus Foligno – Ville Leino
Mikhail Grigorenko – Cody McCormick – John Scott (LOL)

Christian Ehrhoff – Brayden McNabb
Henrik Tallinder – Tyler Myers
Jamie McBain – Mike Weber

Goal: Ryan Miller

Scratches/Injuries/Suspensions: Tropp, Flynn, Pysyk

Projected PHI Lines

Hartnell – Giroux – Voracek
Schenn – Lecavalier – Simmonds
Read – Couturier – Downie
Rinaldo – Hall – Rosehill

Timonen – Coburn
Grossmann – Streit
Schenn – Gustafsson

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