Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres will try to build on their overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night in a matchup with the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
Buffalo only scored three goals on Tuesday, but they were much better in transition up ice, which came from a good defensive game.
The Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch line scored its first goal of the season, and seemed to be much more in sync than they were in the first four periods of the season.
"It’s easy to get impatient. It’s easy to get frustrated. It’s easy to start gripping your stick. I think we’ve really pushed to not do that, and I didn’t really think we had that bad of a game against the Islanders," said Tuch following Wednesday's practice. "I thought we had a lot of good looks, and we just weren’t able to capitalize. But last night, I thought we were really able to open up a lot of really good opportunities. And honestly, we should’ve had a lot more than one goal."
In their careers, Thompson has averaged 28 goals over 82 games, Tuch has averaged 23, and Skinner has averaged 29. You know they will eventually start putting the puck in the net.
Mattias Samuelsson took the morning skate on Thursday after leaving Tuesday’s game in the third period with an upper-body injury, and then missing Wednesday's practice. The defenseman is good to go for Thursday night.
When it comes to special teams, the Sabres are 10-for-11 on the penalty kill, which puts them ninth in the league at 90.9%. All eight teams ahead of them, including the Flames, are 100%. Calgary is 10-for-10 on the penalty kill.
At the other end of the spectrum, Buffalo is one of five teams without a power play goal in eight attempts. Calgary is 27.3% on the power play, going 3-for-11.
With Victor Olofsson a healthy scratch, Peyton Krebs has taken his place on the second power play unit.
"With the position he’s in, the attribute that’s needed is compete," said head coach Don Granato. "He’s down low along the goal line retrieving pucks, getting to the net front. That’s all compete, battle and scrap. If he was on a flank, up on the half wall, you’d see more passing and more creativeness."
The Sabres come into the game 1-2-0, and will have Devon Levi in net once again. He’s played all three games this season and has a 3.00 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage.
The Sabres have five leading scorers as Zach Benson, Jordan Greenway, Casey Mittelstadt, Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin all have two points.
The Flames are 1-1-1 this season, and Jacob Markstrom has played all three games for them in net with a 2.96 goals-against average and an .898 save percentage.
Calgary will not use him Thursday, though, as it will be Dan Vladar. This will be his third-career game against Buffalo, where he's 1-1-0 with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.
Calgary has three players with four points in Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin and Andrew Mangiapane.
Join Schopp and the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. ET when you’ll hear from Granato, Tuch and Owen Power.
Losi and Gangi
