Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres are making a coaching change for Saturday's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, as head coach Dan Granato will miss the contest due to an illness.
With that, Seth Appert will come up from the Rochester Americans to coach his first game behind an NHL bench. His assistants, Vinny Prospal and Nathan Paestch, will share coaching duties for the Amerks' Saturday game in Utica against the Comets.
Since Granato has taken over as head coach in 2021, there was one other game during the COVID-19 pandemic where he was sick, which resulted in general manager Kevyn Adams coaching that game.
Neither the Sabres nor Amerks are doing very well right now, as Buffalo has lost 4-of-5 games and 15-out-of-22. Meanwhile, Rochester has lost 5-of-6 games and 9-of-11.
Appert will coach a team that now has fallen eight points behind the New Jersey Devils for the Eastern Conference’s final Wild Card spot. The advantage is he’s coached many of these players in Rochester, including all three goalies, Mattias Samuelsson, Ryan Johnson, Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will be in goal, supporting a personal six-game losing streak. Overall, he’s 6-8-2 this season with a 3.21 goals-against average and an .892 save percentage.
The Sabres' power play has been horrific all season, but the once top penalty kill has also been a mess lately. The Sabres have given up a power play goal in seven-consecutive games, killing just 14-of-22 penalties. That’s a really poor 63.6%.
Alex Tuch has just one goal in nine games, while Peterka hasn’t scored in seven games and Dylan Cozens has two goals in 17 games.
Tage Thompson will likely return to the lineup on Friday after missing a game due to a personal issue. Zemgus Girgensons also has a chance to be back after missing 16 games with a lower-body injury.
The last time Buffalo hosted Columbus, they suffered one of the worst home losses in team history, 9-4. It was a complete embarrassment for a team that has had way too many embarrassing performances at home in the past two seasons.
Pride is definitely at stake in this game.
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Columbus shows up fresh off a 6-5 overtime victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday. It was their first win since running the Sabres out of their own building on Dec. 19.
In-between, they had lost three-straight games.
Spencer Martin was in goal on Friday, so chances are good the Sabres will see Elvis Merzlikins on Saturday. He’s 7-8-6 this season with a 3.25 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage.
Johnny Gaudreau and Zach Werenski lead the Blue Jackets with 25 points.
Gaudreau has played 37 games this year. In his last seven games, Gaudreau has three goals and seven assists for 10 points.
However, Werenski was injured for the Leafs game, and is set to miss 4-to-6 weeks with an ankle injury.
Columbus has given up four or more goals in seven of its last eight games.
Join Brian Koziol and myself for pregame coverage starting at 4 p.m. EST when you’ll hear from Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson. You’ll also hear from Granato, who talked about Saturday’s game after Friday’s practice.
