The Buffalo Sabres season gets underway tomorrow, a day after the NHL at large returned to action, and we’ve got NHL hockey to preview once again. We’re now just 17 hours away from NHL hockey returning to Buffalo.
Game #1 – Buffalo Sabres vs. Philadelphia Flyers
Puck Drop – 12:30pm – First Niagara Center – Buffalo, NY
TV – NBC Radio – WGR 550AM
Flyers Blog – Broad Street Hockey (Please play nice if you’re going to visit.)
Story
It’s the season opener for the Buffalo Sabres. Ain’t no story bigger than that, though the debut of uber-prospect Mikhail Grigorenko is a close second. The kid has five games to prove he belongs in the NHL before the Sabres would be forced to make a decision on whether to keep him or send him back to Quebec.
Also of note – Ville Leino didn’t practice yesterday thanks to a nagging knee injury. His status for tomorrow’s game will be determined at the morning skate. Were he not to play, Jochen Hecht would rake his spot on the third line and Matt Ellis would dress on the fourth. Danny Briere is injured for the Flyers and won’t play, so hopefully we won’t have to hear about him at all tomorrow. Please.
Sabres Lines*
Vanek – Hodgson – Pominville
Foligno – Ennis – Stafford
Ott – Grigorenko – Leino
Scott – Hecht – Kaleta
Myers – Regehr
Ehrhoff – Sulzer
Sekera – Leopold
Scratches: Ellis, Weber, Brennan
*Will be determined by Leino’s leg injury.
Flyers Lines (Courtesy of Broad Street Hockey)
Hartnell – Giroux – B. Schenn
Talbot – Couturier – Voracek
Read – Laughton – Simmonds
Fedotenko – Wellwood – Rinaldo
Timonen – L. Schenn
Grossmann – Coburn
Foster – Meszaros
Scratches: Gervais, Sestito, Shelley.
Post-Practice Audio
Lindy Ruff
Ryan Miller
Mikhail Grigorenko
Sabres hockey is back, people. Rejoice accordingly.