Edmonton, AB (WGR 550) - The Sabres walk into Edmonton on Monday on the outside looking in to the playoff race. The ninth place Sabres are just three points in front of the streaking Carolina Hurricanes, and are one point back of Montreal and two behind the Islanders. The Canadiens are at Boston on Monday.
Buffalo has lost two straight games and three out of four. On the road, they're 9-10-3, but are only 1-6-2 away from home since Thanksgiving. Phil Housley said, "We've ended up on the wrong side of one-goal games. It's something we have to focus on in just playing a simple road game. The more we can keep it simple and try to get pucks in deep and go to work and forcheck, it puts the other team in a defensive posture."
The Sabres have scored goals in the last three games, netting 11, but Linus Ullmark and Carter Hutton have given up nine goals in the last two games.
Hutton gets the call in net. He gave up four goals in Carolina, but had a nice game in a 5-1 win over New Jersey. Hutton is 14-13-3 with a 2.62 goals-against and .916 save percentage.
Jack Eichel said this morning that he needs to get himself going. He doesn't have a point in four games. In the middle of that, he was hurt for three games.
Sam Reinhart has 26 points in his last 21 games. That works out to 102 points over 82 games.
Nate Beaulieu returns to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for five game. He replaces Lawrence Pilut, who struggled against Tampa Bay.
Monday's lines:
Skinner - Eichel - Reinhart
Sobotka - Rodrigues - Pominville
Sheary - Mittelstadt - Thompson
Girgensons - Larsson - Okposo
McCabe - Ristolainen
Dahlin - Bogosian
Scandella - Beaulieu
Edmonton started off pretty well when Ken Hitchcock took over, but lately they've lost 9-of-12 games. The Oilers are 24th in league scoring with 2.76 goals per-game.
Connor McDavid will play, but he has been sick the past few days. He's fourth in NHL scoring with 67 points in 44 games. McDavid has points in four straight games. He also has points in 18 out of 20 games.
Last season, in two games against Buffalo, McDavid didn't have a point. Jack Eichel said to do that, it must be done as a unit, "You've got to be aware when he's on the ice, he drives their train over there and it's five men trying to get gaps taking his time and space away.
You know he's going to make his plays, he always does so you just try to minimize them."
Mikko Koskinen will be in goal. He's 12-8-1 with a 2.72 goals-against and .913 save percentage. He only gave up one goal to Arizona, but in his other six starts lately, he's given up 22 goals.
Join Brian Koziol for the pre-game starting at 8:00 when he'll be joined by Phil Housley, Jack Eichel and Jake McCabe.
