Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – After a loss Wednesday night back in Buffalo, the Sabres get right back at it on Thursday, as they visit the New York Islanders.
The Sabres lost their first game out of the holiday break on Wednesday to the New Jersey Devils, while this is the Islanders' first game since losing in a shootout to the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 19.
With the Sabres on a two-game road trip, general manager Kevyn Adams has formed a taxi squad consisting of forwards Brandon Biro and Ryan MacInnis, as well as defenseman Oskari Laaksonen.
Buffalo will still likely be missing head coach Don Granato, as well as 11 players that are either in the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol or injured. That should probably leave Peyton Krebs, JJ Peterka and Ethan Prow in the lineup.
The Sabres didn’t have a morning skate, but with this being back-to-back games, Malcolm Subban will likely get the start in goal. He’s 0-1-1 this season with a 4.79 goals-against average and an .877 save percentage. In Subban’s last start, he stole a point from the Pittsburgh Penguins in an overtime loss, while making 45 saves.
In their last two games, the Sabres have given up 90 shots. Buffalo was without defensemen Robert Hagg, Colin Miller and Jacob Bryson against the Devils.
Buffalo has found a little success recently on the road, going 2-0-1. The Sabres scored nine goals in those three games.
This has never been a good matchup for the Sabres, as the line of Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin runs them right out of the arena both physically and on the scoreboard.
Buffalo is 1-7-2 in its last 10 games on Long Island.
Mathew Barzal usually treats a Sabres game like he’s on the pond dangling with his friends, and when he’s done he stands there and laughs at them.
This is a new Sabres team and a new era. I’ll be interested to see how this group handles all that.
The Islanders got three players back from COVID-19 protocols in Martin, Robin Salo and Clutterbuck. Barzal is their leading scorer with 17 points in 23 games.
The Islanders have been better lately, going 3-2-4, which is points in seven out of nine games. However, New York has six losses in nine games. The Islanders have just three wins in 17 games.
If you look in the Islanders' goaltending situation, you have Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov still in place. Sorokin is 7-7-5 this season with a 2.49 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage, while Varlamov is 1-5-1 with a 2.99 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.
When Lou Lamoriello is your general manager, you usually have a great defense and great goaltending to the point that the game is about as boring as you could watch. However, the team usually wins for him.
Join Schopp and the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6:30 p.m. EST when they’ll be joined by acting head coach Matt Ellis.
