Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR) - The Buffalo Sabres will celebrate their Atlantic Division championship on Saturday as the banner will be in the rafters. It's also the home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Buffalo lost its season opener against the Blue Jackets on Thursday, 6-3, in Columbus.
Chicago has played both of its first two games this season without their new captain Connor Bedard. He's recovering from shoulder surgery this past offseason, and is expected to return in November.
The Blackhawks have lost both games to start the year - 5-2 in Vegas and 6-0 in Utah.
Former Sabres defenseman Bo Byram will not be playing against his former team on Saturday. Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill said after Saturday's morning skate that he is attending to a family matter.
In his first two games, Byram played 25:08 and 24:49, respectively, with no points, and was a minus-2 for both games.
Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen played Thursday in Columbus, and will, once again, get the start against Chicago. He's a perfect 6-0-0 against the Blackhawks in his career with a 1.67 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage.
Head coach Lindy Ruff says he's liked Colten Ellis in the preseason, and would like to get the young goalie into a game early in the season.
"With Alex out, he will play," Ruff said on Friday.
There was a lot to cleanup for the Sabres after their loss to the Blue Jackets, but Ruff says it's all correctable.
"We want to play a more direct game," he said. "We know we've got a better game inside of us. Clean up some of those mistakes we made, so we've got to be better offensively and we've got to be better defensively."
New defenseman Olen Zellweger is expected to make his Sabres debut Saturday after passing his baseline testing after suffering a concussion int he preseason. He will be paired on the back end with Owen Power.
Having coached Byram, Ruff knows what he can do with the Blackhawks this season.
"He's being heavily involved in the offense, he was heavily involved here. I think what really improved over his time here was his defensive play," Ruff said of the 25-year-old. "He became a good penalty killer. When we first got him, we didn't look at him in that category, but he became a good killer for us and he's used in every aspect of their game."
Last season, the Sabres were 26-10-5 at home, which was fourth-best in the NHL. That was only three points behind the No.1 team, the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
"You want to make this building hard to play in, and we were able to establish that last year, for sure," Ruff said. "There were some nights we played great offensively, but most nights by playing a solid two-way game, where we were good on both ends of the ice."
The Sabres have a six-game winning streak going against the Blackhawks, outscoring them 30-10 along the way.
It's been awhile since a new Sabres banner indicating a successful season has gone up to the rafters.
"It means we had a good year last year, for sure," Ruff said. "We got to a place that's hard to get to, and we put a lot of work in to get to that point. So it's something you've got to take a little bit of pride in, and we know our ultimate goal is more than that."
Tage Thompson has been very clear that just making the playoffs or winning a division isn't where he wants to be. He has higher expectations for himself and the team.
"That will be cool, but I haven't really thought about that. Definitely a rewarding feeling knowing where we've been in the past and how hard we worked to get to that point to achieve that, but by the same time, that's not the end goal. That's not why we lace them up at the beginning of the season," Thompson said. "But with that being said, it'll been cool to see that, and just a little reminder of all the hard work that we put into last season. How hard it was to get to that point, and a good reminder that it's not going to be an easy ride, by any means, just because we made it last year. It'll be even harder."
Join Brian Koziol for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6:00, when you'll hear from Ruff, Thompson and Zellweger.
Bo Byram will not face his former team as he tends to a family matter
Bo Byram will not face his former team as he tends to a family matter
