Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres bring a nine-game losing streak into Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Yes, Buffalo has lost nine in a row, but the NHL recognizes it as only one loss because Buffalo got a shootout point in Philadelphia on Tuesday against the Flyers. The NHL calls it a nine game winless streak.
With Jack Eichel out for the “foreseeable future” and Dylan Cozens day-to-day, Riley Sheahan centered the line with Taylor Hall and Sam Reinhart in Friday’s practice.
After Cozens was hit by Zach Aston-Reese and Rasmus Dahlin went down briefly with a dirty knee-on-knee hit from former Sabres defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, Ralph Krueger declared war for this game.
“We need to prepare ourselves for a reaction," the Sabres head coach said following Thursday night's loss. "We've got Pittsburgh again in two days. The hits on Dylan and Rasmus, they're boiling the blood right now. We just need to show a reaction."
Rasmus Ristolainen missed Friday with a maintenance day and will play. With Ristolainen still weakened from his bout with COVID-19, Krueger was asked if it would be better to give him a game off instead of playing him the 23 minutes he got in each of the last two games.
“You tell him that,” Krueger joked. “No way, not with 'Risto'. He’s such a competitor, and as a coach, we leave that up to him. He’s a leader on this team now. He’s evolved over the last two years to an important leader, a voice in the locker room, and with Jake McCabe out of the lineup, I can’t imagine 'Risto' not being there.”
Despite going eight straight games without a power play goal, which covers an 0-for-13 stretch, Buffalo is still fifth in the NHL at 27.9%. The penalty killing had gone six straight games with giving up a goal, but has given up one in each of the last two games. The Sabres rank 12th in the league at 80.7%.
By the way, those numbers should have the Sabres fighting for a playoff spot, not 30th with a points percentage of .320.
The Sabres haven’t made the playoffs in nine years. Only the 2013-14 team had a worse point percentage at .317. That was the first year of the tank, which netted them Sam Reinhart with the second overall pick.
The Sabres have given up five goals in each of its last five games.
Carter Hutton gets the call in net. He’s 5-1-0 against the Penguins with a 1.95 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. This season, Hutton’s overall numbers are 1-7-1 with a 3.40 goals-against average and a .883 save percentage.
Over 43 games, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have killed the Sabres, and Thursday was no different when they combined for three points. Crosby has 21 goals and 43 assists for 64 points against the blue and gold, while Malkin has netted 19 goals and 38 assists for 57 points.
Overall, Malkin has points in six-straight games, picking up nine points. Crosby has points in five in a row, picking up seven points.
Jake Guentzel has four goals and seven assists for 11 points in 11 games. Kasperi Kapanen has five goals and seven assists for 12 points in his last 12 games.
The Penguins' special teams are usually pretty mediocre, but they were very good on Thursday. Overall, they’re 23rd in both the power play and the penalty kill.
Pittsburgh has four-straight wins and has five wins in six games. The only game they didn’t score four or five goals was in the loss to the Flyers.
Casey DeSmith gets the call in goal for Pittsburgh. He’s 5-2-0 with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage. He’s played two games against the Sabres and one was a shutout.
He’s only played in one of the Pens' last six games, giving up one goal in a win over the New York Rangers.
Join Brian Koziol and me at 6 p.m. EST for pregame coverage on WGR when we’ll have Krueger, Sheahan, Casey Mittelstadt and Tage Thompson.
