Game 44

Buffalo Sabres (11-25-7) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (27-13-3)

Puck Drop: 2:00 PM EST | KeyBank Center | Buffalo, NY

TV: NBC

Radio: WGR 550

SB Nation Penguins Blog: PensBurgh

Know Your Opponent

Pittsburgh Penguins

Record: (27-13-3) | 57 PTS

Division Ranking: 3rd in East Division

PP: 10th (22.4%)

PK: 22nd (77.3%)

1. Welcome to Buffalo

The trade deadline brought the arrival of forward Anders Bjork.

In two games since his arrival in Buffalo, Bjork has fit into the Sabres lineup like a glove with three points (one goal, two assists).

It appears that the Anders Bjork – Dylan Cozens – Arttu Ruotsalainen line is working out well and it will be interesting to see if the chemistry continues against the Penguins.

2. Casey is Here to Stay

The resurgence of Casey Mittelstadt has been on full display this season. That resurgence has been turned up to ten following the promotion of Don Granato to interim head coach.

Mittelstadt has scored seven goals this season, including three in his last four games.

With Buffalo finding more success as of late, it is hard to think the Sabres would be able to win without the recent offensive successes of Casey Mittelstadt.

3. Ullmark Week-to-Week

Interim head coach Don Granato announced on Friday afternoon that Linus Ullmark is week-to-week with a “lower body injury.”

Granato went on to say, “I’ll follow up with you on it, but right now it’s week to week and we don’t have many weeks left. So that one’s a little touchy.”

With that being said, the Buffalo Sabres appear to be ready to continue with Dustin Tokarski in goal for the foreseeable future. Tokarski himself just returned to the win column for the first time since December 12, 2015.

The last handful of games could feature prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen making his NHL debut as well.

Projected Lineups

Buffalo Sabres

Forwards

Jeff Skinner – Sam Reinhart – Victor Olofsson

Rasmus Asplund – Casey Mittelstadt – Tage Thompson

Anders Bjork – Dylan Cozens – Arttu Ruotsalainen

Tobias Rieder – Cody Eakin – Kyle Okposo

Defense

Jacob Bryson – Rasmus Ristolainen

Rasmus Dahlin – Henri Jokiharju

Matt Irwin – Colin Miller

Starter: Dustin Tokarski

Pittsburgh Penguins

Forwards

Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Jason Zucker – Jeff Carter – Jared McCann

Zach Aston-Reese – Teddy Blueger – Evan Rodrigues

Radim Zohorna – Mark Jankowski – Colton Sceviour

Defense

Brian Dumoulin – Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson – John Marino

Michael Matheson – Cody Ceci

Starter: Tristan Jarry