Los Angeles, CA (WGR 550) - Most of the Buffalo Sabres took part in Friday’s optional practice. Lindy Ruff said there are no new injuries and players like Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and Bo Byram were just getting rest.
Buffalo comes into Saturday’s game vs the Los Angeles Kings with two consecutive shutouts. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon both notched shutouts. The team shutout streak is now at 164:07.
Lyon is also one road win away from tying the NHL record for most consecutive road wins. His 5-0 shoutout of the Sharks in San Jose gave him 10 consecutive road wins. Both Evgeni Nabokov of the Sharks and Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild hold the record 11 straight road wins.
Lyon is now 17-2-0 in his last 19 games. Luukkonen is 12-4-1 in his last 17 games. His goals against is 2.62 with a .915 save percentage.
Rasmus Dahin had a goal and an assist in San Jose to break a three-game pointless streak. He’s still been red hot for 26 games scoring 10 goals and 23 assists for 33 points.
The Sharks game was just another illustration on how far this Sabres group has come. They didn’t play well against the Sharks, but Lyon was a brick wall keeping the score 0-0. Midway through the second period Buffalo had no shots in the period. They proceeded to score on their next three shots in 1:43 and in a flash they had a 3-0 lead. It was the only three shots they’d have in the period. That was the type of game they would always lose, but this season, they find ways to win, even if they don’t play well for long stretches.
Tage Thompson hadn’t picked up a point in four games and hadn’t scored in five. Just 40 seconds into the third period he dribbled one through Alex Nedeljkovic giving Buffalo four goals on four consecutive shots.
Carolina is back even in games with Buffalo and lead the Sabres by two points for first overall in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo leads the Atlantic Division with a points percentage of .667. The Tampa Bay Lightning are at .657 and are four points behind. On Saturday Tampa Bay visits Edmonton while Carolina plays on Sunday in Pittsburgh.
In late January the Sabres beat the Kings 4-1.
The Kings are 3-1-2 in their last six games. Artemi Panarin has played 12 games since being acquired from the New York Rangers. He has four goals and 11 assists for 15 points. Lindy Ruff knows they can’t lose track of the Russian star,
“They’ve got Panarin now who can create high end offense, so you’ve got to be aware of that.”
He’s their leading scorer with 23 goals, 49 assists for 72 points.
For years the Kings would try to play the game in the neutral zone to frustrate the opponent and jump on their mistakes. Ruff thinks they aren’t that defensive bunch anymore. Los Angeles is ninth in the NHL with a goals against of 2.91. The Sabres are eighth at 2.90. The difference is since Dec. 9, Buffalo is 32-6-2 and lead the league with a goals against of 2.43. They are second in goals for at 3.80.
Los Angeles comes into the game as the Western Conference’s second Wild Card. Three teams are within two points of them.
Recently Darcy Kuemper has been getting most of the games in goal. He’s 17-13-11 with a 2.65 goals against and .897 save percentage.
Join Brian Koziol on Saturday for the pregame starting at 3:00. You’ll hear from Ruff and Noah Ostlund.