Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres put their eight-game losing streak on the line Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first meeting between these two teams this season.
We know that Jack Eichel won't play with an upper-body injury suffered Sunday on Long Island against the New York Islanders. Ralph Krueger said the captain did leave town to get a second opinion.
"Jack Eichel went out of state to get a deeper assessment of the upper-body injury that we're looking at right now," said the Sabres head coach confirmed after Thursday's morning skate. "We hope to have a complete assessment here within the next couple of days, and we will let you know once we have some clarity on that.
"This is a 7-to-10 day minimum that we're dealing with here."
Since Eichel left the state of New York, he is now under a seven-day quarantine.
Pittsburgh has won three-straight games, and 10 out of their last 14. If there’s a flaw with this Penguins team, it’s they’re 4-7-1 record on the road. That probably won’t matter, because the Sabres are 2-7-2 at home, and have lost six in a row in Buffalo, and seven out of eight.
Despite losing eight in a row, Buffalo is no longer the worst team in the NHL. The Sabres and Detroit Red Wings have a points percentage of .333 while the Ottawa Senators are at .328.
Pittsburgh holds down third place in the East Division at 31 points. That’s three points out of second place and five points out of first. After Thursday night, the Penguins still have seven games left against Buffalo this season.
The Sabres have fallen in both their special teams. They’ve gone from first to fifth in the league on the power play, thanks to eight-straight games without a goal with the extra man. They’ve been 0-for-11 in that time. The Sabres had gone six games perfect on the penalty kill, but going 3-for-4 on Tuesday dropped them from eighth in the NHL to 12th.
Jonas Johansson was the first goalie off the ice in the morning skate, so he’ll likely get his third-straight start, and fourth in five games. In that time, he’s 0-2-1 with a 4.23 goals-against average and a .879 save percentage. Overall, Johansson is 0-3-1 with a 3.87 goals-against average and a .890 save percentage.
It's obvious Mike Bales and Ralph Krueger have zero confidence in Carter Hutton anymore.
Hutton has owned Pittsburgh in his career, but Krueger seems to ignore the obvious. Hutton is 5-1-0 with a 1.95 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage against the Pens.
Colin Miller will return to the lineup for Henri Jokiharju, who should be in Rochester trying to rediscover his confidence and his game with the Americans. Krueger said a few weeks ago that’s not going to happen.
Pittsburgh counters with Tristan Jarry in goal. His record is 10-7-1 with a 3.05 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. The Pens are 18th in the league with a team 3.08 goals-against average. Buffalo is 26th at 3.25.
That’s not optimal when your offense is second-last in the league in goal scoring.
The Penguins' two super stars have annihilated the Sabres ever since they entered the league. Sidney Crosby had played 42 games against Buffalo and has 21 goals and 42 assists for 63 points. Evgeni Malkin has also played 42 games against the Sabres and has 18 goals and 37 assists for 55 points.
Many expected Krueger to be fired weeks ago, and most had it a forgone conclusion by Wednesday. It hasn’t happened, and Krueger said it’s not a distraction to the team.
“Other than you telling me that now, I don’t feel that," he explained. "I’m aware of it, but it’s not entering out inner sanctum. We as a team, the players, the coaches, nobody’s happy with the results of late, but the process of how we function on a daily basis has not been interrupted in any way.
“I’ve been in situations that have been difficult and challenging so often in my leadership life of 30 years that all I know is each and every time that I had situations like this, there’s massive opportunity here if you make the right moves and if you’re adamant about fighting for what you believe in as a group and stick with the path.”
Eric Staal is on an expiring contract and has a partial no movement clause with his contract. I asked him if he’d like to be moved to a contending team before the April 12 NHL Trade Deadline.
“I’m not really thinking about it. I’m thinking about the game tonight," Staal said in response. "Everybody knows where we’re at and the situation we’re in, but at the same time, my focus is trying to help us win a game tonight. So we’ll worry about that when we get there.”
This season hasn’t been fun for these players, since the expectation was to be fighting for a playoff spot.
“We’ve had a lot of wrinkles thrown at us all season. There have been a lot of unique circumstances, so it’s been a challenging year in more ways than one," Staal said.
“It’s been pretty miserable here for the last little stretch. We’ve had some good games and haven’t been rewarded and we’ve had some games that weren’t good, so there’s a lot we can get better at and the focus is remaining.”
Join Schopp and the Bulldog for pregame coverage starting at 6 p.m. EST on WGR when they’ll be joined by Krueger, Staal and Tobi Rieder.
