Game #8
Vancouver Canucks (4-3-0) vs. Buffalo Sabres (1-6-1)
Puck Drop – 7:00pm EST – First Niagara Center – Buffalo, NY
TV – MSG | Radio – WGR 550-AM
SBNation Canucks Blog – Nucks Misconduct (Please play nice if you’re going to visit.)
Three Things To Watch For
1. Will the team’s first win and some new found chemistry spark anything more?
2. Will Ron Rolston continue to juggle the healthy scratches, seemingly at random?
The Sabres have seen a different crop of forwards and defensemen play in just about every single game in their search for chemistry. Mikhail Grigorenko and John Scott have been the world’s oddest platoon at forward, and the defensemen have been rotating in and out on an every game basis. Zemgus Girgensons‘ injury might keep him out of the lineup, which would mean that we’d probably see the same forward lines as Tuesday, and the defense actually played well, so we’ll see how Rolston decides to approach this one.
3. Can Buffalo’s top two lines continue to be productive?
The Sabres have found some offensive chemistry the past few games, thanks to their top two lines of Vanek-Hodgson-Ott and Foligno-Ennis-Stafford. They’ll need some firepower to go toe-to-toe with Vancouver, whose new coach John Tortorella has split up the Sedins from time to time to try and spread out the offense.
Projected BUF Lines
Vanek – Hodgson – Ott
Stafford – Ennis – Foligno
Porter – Grigorenko – Flynn
McCormick – Larsson – Scott
Ehrhoff – Pysyk
Tallinder – Myers
Weber- Ristolainen
Goal: Ryan Miller
Scratches/Injuries: Girgensons, Kaleta, Leino, McBain