Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – As we’ve been talking about for two days now, Jack Eichel will be making his first return to Western New York on Thursday to play the Buffalo Sabres.
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We won’t see former Sabres goalie Robin Lehner and defenseman Brayden McNabb due to injuries.
Buffalo will welcome defenseman Henri Jokiharju back to the lineup. He’s missed six games due to a lower-body injury. That means Mark Pysyk, Mark Jankowski and Anders Bjork will be the healthy scratches.
Buffalo is still waiting on Zemgus Girgensons, Colin Miller and Will Butcher. Head coach Don Granato says they’re all progressing, and he expects them on next week's road trip to Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.
However, none of them are expected to play on Thursday, and all of them may not play in Sunday's Heritage Classic against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Granato did express concern for throwing any one of them back in Sunday, because of ice conditions being in an outdoor game.
The Sabres don’t have any roster spots available, and Butcher has been back to full practice for a while now. Granato just said that it takes longer for some to get back to where they need to be.
Craig Anderson is in goal on Thursday, getting his second opportunity for 300 career NHL wins. Anderson is 8-8-0 this season with a 3.14 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.
In his last nine starts, Anderson has allowed four goals or more in five of them. In those nine games, he’s 3-6-0 with a 3.81 goals-against average and an .881 save percentage.
Buffalo is coming off an embarrassing 6-1 loss at home to the Florida Panthers. After beating the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-1, and the Minnesota Wild, 5-4, the Sabres have consecutive losses to the Panthers and Los Angeles Kings. Buffalo has lost eight of 10 games.
In the last two games, John Hayden has the only goal.
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The Sabres have four young centers in Tage Thompson, Casey Mittelstadt, Dylan Cozens and Peyton Krebs. One of them has to play wing every game, with Krebs doing it on Thursday. All four are much better centers than they are on the wing, but Granato says that’s part of the experimental process.
“I had a conversation with one of them on the ice just now. It’s beneficial for them in the long-term," Granato explained. "You go down to two lines with three minutes left, and you want your best players on the ice. The more versatile they are, they better they are.”
Granato believes when they get it down, each has a skill that will benefit them.
“Mittelstadt on the wing, there’s some things he can do like still manipulate plays, because his hand skills are so good that he can back people off and create time and space. They learn how to use their skillsets differently," he said.
“Dylan’s speed down the wing, if he times it right, he’s really hard to contain. So each guy may be challenged over there now, but they haven’t figured out how to impart their skillset and read the situation that they can. When they do, they’re going to be really effective there as well.”
Vegas is in a tight playoff race in the Western Conference. The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks are on the outside looking in, but Edmonton is only two points behind Vegas, while Vancouver is four back.
Laurent Brossoit is in net for the Golden Knights. He’s 10-6-3 this season with a 2.76 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.
Buffalo lost in Vegas back on Feb. 1, 5-2. The Sabres were never really in that game, as they were down 4-0 just 24:27 into the game. Alex Tuch did score against his old team in the losing effort.
Join Schopp and the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST when they’ll be joined by Granato, Eichel and Tuch.
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