Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres will play the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday without Owen Power. The defenseman got hurt during practice on Monday, and he may miss some extended time.
"It’s going to be week-to-week," said head coach Don Granato on Tuesday. "I think in one week we’ll have a better idea of how long, and what a return will look like at that point."
In their last 15 games, the Sabres have a goals-against average of 2.33, which is fifth in the NHL. In their last nine games, Buffalo is second in the league with a goals-against average of 2.00. Part of the improvement has been the improvement in Rasmus Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson, Connor Clifton and Power.
"[Power] has been real good the last segment of games, and I think overall," Granato said. "If you just look at 5-on-5, he’s been pretty effective for us. So there are a lot of areas where he continued to be good, and then lots of areas where you see he’s going to get even better-and-better.
"He’s gotten better closing and starting to use his size and reach advantage more defending. On the penalty kill, he’s been better-and-better. But the shoes that he’s in, his potential is so enormous, you want more-and-more-and-more from him."
Granato says Jacob Bryson will go into the lineup for Power, and there will be a call up from Rochester to give them an extra defenseman.
In addition, Victor Olofsson will go in for Eric Robinson on the wing on Tuesday.
In Los Angeles on Jan. 24, Buffalo scored four unanswered goals to leave with a 5-3 win. Since then, the Kings have fired head coach Todd McLellan and replaced him with Jim Hiller.
Something has to give between these two teams.
For the past two seasons, the Sabres have been one of the worst teams in the NHL at home, but they beat Los Angeles here, 6-0, last season. In their last 21 home games against the Kings, the Sabres are 17-3-1.
Los Angeles has an impressive road record of 15-6-4, but seven of those 10 losses came recently when they dropped seven-out-of-eight on the road. That was right before they beat the Nashville Predators on the road before the All-Star break on Jan. 31.
Buffalo has only scored three goals in their last three home games.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will play in his 10th game of the last 11 opportunities. He’s 12-13-2 this season overall with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage.
The Kings have won two-straight games, but had only won 1-of-7 before that. They also went on a slide that saw two wins in 16 games.
Despite that, they’re tied with the St. Louis Blues for seventh place in the Western Conference, and two points ahead of Nashville.
The Kings are fifth in the NHL with a goals-against average of 2.59. That includes a 4-0 shutout win over the Edmonton Oilers in their last game.
David Rittich has taken over the Kings' net, playing seven of the last eight games. The only game he didn’t play was when the Sabres put five up on Cam Talbot.
Rittich is 6-1-3 this season with a 1.90 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage.
The Kings' leading scorer is Adrian Kempe, who has 17 goals and 27 assists for 44 points in 49 games.
Join Mike Schopp and the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST when you’ll hear from Granato, Casey Mittelstadt and Ryan Johnson.
