Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres are back on home ice Wednesday following a five-game road trip that saw the team go 2-3-0.
Now the Sabres will play their next five games in Buffalo, and have been playing well at home recently with five wins in their last six home games.
In those six games, Buffalo has outscored its opponents, 26-14. The Sabres also went 5-for-16 on the power play (31.3%), and killed 15-out-of-18 penalties (83.3%).
Jeff Skinner had seven points in those six home games, while Zach Benson and Owen Power had six points.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played all six games and had a 1.95 goals-against average and .928 save percentage. Overall this season, Luukkonen is 24-18-3 with a 2.48 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.
When Sabres head coach Don Granato looks back on those six home games, he sees a big difference in his group.
"I think it was dramatically different," said Granato on Wednesday. "The mood on the bench, and the preparation even before the game, you could feel the difference.
"Rasmus Dahlin has stepped up, [Tage] Thompson has stepped up, and now we have five games in-a-row. This would be a great time to hunker down, but it’s still one game at a time, and you’re never out until you’re out."
Dylan Cozens is also excited to get back home after the recent success in front of the hometown crowd.
"We want to love playing here. We want the fans to love watching us play here. It makes it so much easier for both sides when we just go out and play good hockey at home," said Granato on Tuesday. "We want to continue doing that, and get these fans on our side."
Devon Levi is still up with the Sabres, as Granato says it’s for the back-to-back games coming up this Friday and Saturday against the New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively.
Granato also expects winger Jack Quinn to return to Wednesday's lineup from a leg injury that kept him out for 23 games. The Sabres head coach says Quinn will likely get some time on special teams, but he’ll need to monitor him.
Lukas Rousek is out for a few days after taking a stick to the head in practice on Tuesday.
The Sabres have beaten the Senators twice this season: Once in Buffalo on Jan. 11, 5-3, and once in Ottawa on Oct. 24, 6-4. The Senators won their other matchup this season on home ice back on Dec. 31, 5-1.
Thompson has five goals and six points in those three games against Ottawa this season.
The Senators came out of a seven-game losing streak winning 5-of-8 contests.
Joonas Korpisalo is likely in net for Ottawa on Wednesday. He’s 17-21-4 this season with a 3.33 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage.
Korpisalo has won four of his last five starts, but he did give up six goals in the loss to the Boston Bruins. He only gave up nine goals in the four wins.
Senators captain Brady Tkachuk has five goals and six assists for 11 points in 10 games. Tkachuk leads the Sens with 31 goals in 69 games.
The problem Ottawa has with Tkachuk is he sits in the penalty box too much, as he’s third in the NHL with 122 penalty minutes.
Drake Batherson has eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in his last 17 games.
Tim Stutzle has 12 points in his last 10 games, and leads the Senators in points this season with 68 in 70 games.
As far as the standings go, the Sabres aren’t mathematically eliminated yet, but the Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals going to overtime against each other on Tuesday wasn’t ideal for Buffalo.
The Sabres trail the eighth place Capitals by eight points, and Washington still has a game in-hand. Buffalo trails Detroit by six points and are even in games played.
Buffalo is also now three points behind the New Jersey Devils and hold a game in-hand, while they’re two points back of the Islanders with New York having one game in-hand.
Of all the teams in that group, the Sabres are the only team that plays on Wednesday.
The Sabres are off Thursday, while the Islanders visit the Florida Panthers, the Capitals travel to Toronto, and the Red Wings are in Carolina.
Meanwhile, the Rochester Americans have signed Sabres' 2023 fifth-round pick Scott Ratzlaff to an Amateur Tryout contract. It's an opportunity for the 19-year-old to see what professional hockey is all about.
The goalie just finished his season with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League. In 52 games this season, he was 21-26-1 with a 3.33 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
In four seasons with the Thunderbirds, Ratzlaff was 64-36-2 with a 2.78 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.
This is the same opportunity Sabres' first-round pick in 2022, Noah Ostlund got last season in Rochester, and one 2023 second-round pick Anton Wahlberg is set to experience with Ratzlaff. Both Ostlund and Wahlberg played professionally in Sweden before getting their first taste of pro hockey in North America.
Tune in during "Schopp and the Bulldog" at 6 p.m. ET for pregame coverage on WGR when you’ll hear from Granato, Quinn and Cozens.
Losi & Gangi
