Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Buffalo Sabres forward Casey Mittelstadt was full-go at practice on Saturday, but he won’t play on Sunday in Montreal against the Canadiens.
“We’ll wait a couple of more days and see how he responds," said Sabres head coach Don Granato following Saturday's practice. "His timing’s not there. He’s practiced hard, he looks better than he did yesterday, but I don’t think it’s fair to put him in right now.”
The Sabres go into Sunday with three wins in eight games. One reason the Sabres are losing is the penalty kill has given up a goal in eight-straight games, and 11 out of 12. In that time span, the Sabres are the second-worst penalty killing unit in the NHL at a horrific 65.1%.
The Sabres went into Saturday’s games 29th in the NHL with a points percentage of .391.
Craig Anderson will be in goal for the Sabres on Sunday. He’s 5-3-0 this season with a 2.62 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. Anderson has lost two of his last three starts, giving up five, one and five goals.
Dustin Tokarski got the first game coming out of break on Thursday and gave up two soft goals, including the overtime winner against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Granato said there’s a reason why he went that way.
“I don’t know if this particular instance had anything to do with philosophy. It had to do with us communicating with Craig, and we felt that Craig’s our No. 1 guy," Granato explained. "How did he feel? He only had two practices and through conversations, he felt more comfortable going that way.”
Tage Thompson only has two goals in 11 games, but he has 12 points in 10 games.
Montreal came into Saturday’s game against Columbus with the NHL’s worst points percentage at .250. Saturday was their second game under new coach Marty St. Louis.
“I think their belief system is a little stronger as a result," Granato said. "They played with more energy the other night, and that should make for a fast paced, competitive game in there. So they’re definitely in a better place than they were five days ago.”
There were many reasons why Montreal made a coaching change, but one was that Cole Caufield had only scored one goal. He has now scored in both games that St. Louis has been the head coach.
Coming into Saturday, Montreal had lost eight-straight games, 14 out of 15 and 21 out of 23. The Habs lost both games in Buffalo, 4-1 and 5-1.
With both Carey Price and Jake Allen out, the Sabres will likely face Cayden Primeau in goal. He’s 1-7-1 this season with a 4.88 goals-against average and an .866 save percentage.
Nick Suzuki went into Saturday as their leading scorer with 28 points in 46 games.
Join Brian Koziol for Sunday’s pregame at 11:30 a.m. EST when he’ll be joined by Granato, Thompson, Anderson and Henri Jokiharju.
