(WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres are ahead of the Arizona Coyotes in the standings, but they did lose to them back in Buffalo on Nov. 8, 4-1. The Sabres played one of their worst games of the season that day, as Arizona is 28th in the NHL with a points percentage of .429.
Buffalo is 7-3-2 in its last 12 games, which has them 21st overall at .500.
The Coyotes were home on Friday and beat the New York Islanders, 5-4, for their third win in four games. Before that, they had one win in 11 games. That win was against the Carolina Hurricanes in Carolina.
The Coyotes have also beaten the Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Sabres used a 39-save performance from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to walk into Colorado and beat the defending Stanley Cup champions, 4-2. The Sabres have won four of their last five road games, and are 7-6-0 away from Buffalo.
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Jeff Skinner returns from his three-game suspension, and according to Jourdon LaBarber of Sabres.com, Kyle Okposo is also returning after missing one game.
Jacob Bryson had to go on Injured Reserve when Buffalo called up Jeremy Davies, so Bryson's maintenance day is now going to last straight through the trip. It’s not known if Davies is playing, or if the Sabres are going with five defensemen.
Owen Power remains day-to-day, and Ilya Lyubushkin still won’t play on Saturday.
There was no indication from Jourdon on which goalie will play. Anderson is coming off a 40-save shutout of the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
This is the Sabres' first game ever on the campus of Arizona State. Overall, the team is 18-8-3 against the Coyotes in 29 games.
Tage Thompson has 11 goals in nine games. Dylan Cozens has 23 points in his last 17 games, scoring six goals and 16 assists. In seven games, Alex Tuch has five goals and four assists for nine points.
Before Skinner was suspended, he had points in six-straight games and eight out of nine games, scoring eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points.
Since Nov. 22 when this recent 12 games of 7-3-2 started, Thompson is second in league scoring with 24 points and first in goals with 12. That’s one more goal than Connor McDavid, and one less point than the Edmonton Oilers star.
Dylan Cozens is fourth in league scoring during that time with 19 points, and Skinner’s 18 points ranks him sixth. Rasmus Dahlin is 12th with 15 points.
Anderson and Luukkonen have only allowed two goals combined in the last two games, making 79 saves.
Connor Ingram is in goal for Arizona on Saturday. He’s 1-6-1 with a 4.57 goals-against average and an .866 save percentage. Ingram has only played in one of the last eight games, where he gave up eight goals to the Oilers. Ingram has given up three or more goals in all of his starts. The 25-year-old has only played 11 NHL games.
Lawson Crouse leads Arizona with 13 goals. Clayton Keller scored two on Friday to give him 12. Keller’s 29 points in 28 games leads the team.
There’s been a lot of talk about the Coyotes trading star defenseman Jakob Chychrun. He has 11 points in 12 games.
Join Brian Koziol and myself at 8 p.m. EST for pregame coverage on News Radio 930 WBEN.
