Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres will be playing another game without Ramus Dahlin on Saturday. The Sabres captain is still in Sweden with his fiancée, but head coach Lindy Ruff expects him back with the team in St. Louis on Monday to play the Blues.
This season, Buffalo is 0-3-0 without Dahlin, being outscored 17-8.
Bo Byram took his place alongside Mattias Samuelsson, as well as on the top power play unit. Jacob Bryson is with Zach Metsa, which means Ryan Johnson will be called up from the Rochester Americans as an extra.
Shockingly, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will be in net against the Boston Bruins on Saturday, playing his second game in the last three games. Luukkonen was excellent in New Jersey this past Sunday, beating the Devils, 3-1.
This season at home, Luukkonen is 4-1-0 with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage. Overall this season, he’s 5-5-1 with a 2.73 goals-against average and an .892 save percentage.
During this seven-game winning streak, Alex Lyon has played in six games and won all six. Lyon is 5-3-2 with a 2.87 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage at home.
Luukkonen feels it’s important for him to get a game pretty close to playing in New Jersey.
"It feels good to get some kind of rotation going here," said Luukkonen following Saturday's morning skate. "All the goalies have been really good for us, especially 'Al' [Lyon], who has been unbelievable. So still getting a chance to play again after a good game in New Jersey and not getting too long of a break in-between, it feels good personally. You feel confident in your game, and I just want to help the team win again."
Every team in the National Hockey League has been off the ice for three days during the holiday break. It’s the same for every team, but I wondered if it’s harder for a goalie.
"It’s only three days, and we’ll be fine," Luukkonen answered. "We got the morning skate in today, it felt good, and I think it falls in the same category of not playing in a week or two with a three-goalie rotation. You know what’s been working for you for the last five years, and you have our own routines so you've stuck with that and you know it’s worked out before. It’ll work out this time too."
The Sabres haven’t won seven games in-a-row since 2018, and Luukkonen says it’s been good for the players mentally.
"I feel like there’s always doubts and noise with our team, and I think the biggest thing is proving it to ourselves that we can string together a good amount of games and get things rolling our way," the Sabres goalie said.
"I think we’ve played some good hockey, but hadn’t gotten the results we wanted. Now we’ve showed we can play some solid defense and defending really, really well in these last games and earned the wins."
Luukkonen's parents and his family don’t get to see him play live very often, but they were in town for Christmas and will get to see him play on Saturday.
Jason Zucker has missed seven games with two different injuries. He returned to practice on Saturday, but didn’t know if he'll be going on the trip to St. Louis, Dallas and Columbus.
Buffalo is 3-1-1 in their last five games against the Bruins, but they played in Boston twice in October and went 0-1-1.
The Sabres come out of the break with a points percentage of .556. Ottawa is in ninth place in the Eastern Conference at .569, and the Washington Capitals hold the eighth and final playoff spot at .581.
Third place in the Atlantic Division belongs to the Tampa Bay Lightning at .597, while the Montreal Canadiens are at .608 and the Detroit Red Wings lead the way at .618.
This is a pretty even matchup, as the Sabres are 15th in the league in goal scoring, while Boston is 12th. Buffalo is 22nd in goals-against average, while Boston is 24th. The Sabres are 15th on the power play, while the Bruins are seventh. Finally, Buffalo is second in penalty killing, while Boston is 19th.
The Bruins have lost four straight games and five out of six.
Boston has the NHL’s second-leading goal scorer, but it’s not David Pastrnak, who is only 38th with 14 goals. Morgan Geekie has scored 25 goals in 38 games.
Pastrnak does have 40 points in 33 games, which is 21st in the NHL.
Jeremy Swayman has played in six-straight games, going 1-3-1. Overall, he’s 14-10-1 this season with a 2.91 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.
Joonas Korpisalo is 6-7-0 this season with a 3.63 goals-against average and an .880 save percentage.
Join Brian Koziol at 6 p.m. for pregame coverage on WGR when you’ll hear from Ruff, Luukkonen and Zucker.
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