Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) - The Sabres have a lot of injuries piling up as they host Detroit on Thursday. Rasmus Ristolainen is still sick, while Evan Rodrigues, Zach Bogosian, Matt Hunwick and Jake McCabe are all injured.
McCabe has been skating with rehab coach Dennis Miller for about 10 days, but this is the first time with the team. He feels he'll be ready to play after a few more skates with the team.
Victor Olofsson makes his NHL debut on a line with Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart. Olofsson played in the SHL with Rasmus Dahlin, who said wait until you see his shot, "He's probably has the best shot I've ever seen in my life, it's unbelievable.
"It's so quick and so hard and it's probably so tough for the goalies. I'm going to give him the puck on the power play and hopefully he scores."
Chris Taylor told Olofsson on Wednesday that he was coming to Buffalo and he couldn't have been happier, "I was super excited, it's a dream come true for me and this is what I've been working for all my life."
You could tell by watching him in preseason that Olofsson needed some time in the AHL. He said he has improved a lot since then, "I feel like I've developed throughout the season. I needed to adjust to the North American style, so I feel a lot more confident out there."
As the season has gone on, Taylor has been giving Olofsson more responsibility. The winger said it's made his game better, "The game overall, just playing some good defense and I've been playing a lot of PK too, so I think I've been growing as a player all over the ice."
The rest of the lines from the morning skate were:
Girgensons - Larsson - Okposo
Skinner - Mittelstadt - Pominville
Sheary - Sobotka - Nylander
Dahlin - Borgen
Scandella - Nelson
Pilut - Montour
McCabe - Wilson
The Sabres had a late call up after 4:00 as Matt Tennyson is up. He was on the ice with Rochester this morning and the Sabres had six defensemen in the line rushes in the morning skate. I wonder if another defenseman is sick?
Linus Ullmark gets the start in goal. He's lost five straight games and eight of nine. The Sabres have beaten Detroit twice this year and Ullmark played both games. He's got a 1.44 goals-against and .955 save percentage in the two games.
Buffalo has lost four of their last five home games and 11-of-12 games overall. That has them 26th in the NHL with a points percentage of .467. The Red Wings are 29th at .434.
Detroit has won four out of five games, beating the Rangers, San Jose and Vegas on the road. Before that, Detroit had lost 12-of-13 games.
Thomas Vanek is not on the trip with an injury. The former Sabres captain has 16 goals in 64 games.
Andreas Athanasiou has 29 goals for the Wings, while Dylan Larkin has 28.
Jimmy Howard is 20-20-5 this season with a 3.02 goals-against and .908 save percentage.
Join Mike Schopp for the pre-game at 6:00 live from (716) Food and Sport when he'll be joined by Phil Housley, Jason Pominville and Victor Olofsson.
