Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Rasmus Dahlin missed Thursday night's win over the Boston Bruins with a lower-body injury. It’s something he had been playing through, but says it just got to the point where he had to rest it.
The Buffalo Sabres defenseman went through the morning skate on Saturday and practiced on the first power play unit. Head coach Don Granato confirmed after the skate that Dahlin is playing, and rookie Ryan Johnson will be the healthy scratch.
"I’m feeling really, really, really good today, so it’s all good," said Dahlin following the morning skate.
Buffalo is coming off one of its most complete games of the season. All 19 players competed hard from start-to-finish, and they beat the No. 3 team in the NHL, the Boston Bruins.
Devon Levi was very good in his return from two games in the AHL, and made 31 saves in the win. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen did return to the ice Saturday morning, but he’s been sick, missing two games. That means Levi will get his first chance to play against his hometown team, the Montreal Canadiens.
This season, Levi is 4-4-1 with a 3.44 goals-against average and an .887 save percentage.
Buffalo remains five points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot. The Sabres still have six teams to leapfrog to get in, but they can catch and pass Montreal with a regulation win, and the Pittsburgh Penguins with any win.
Buffalo’s last two wins have come against the Bruins and the NHL’s No. 1 team, the New York Rangers. In between those games, there were four-straight losses.
Montreal was in Buffalo on Oct. 23 and left with a 3-1 win.
The Canadiens got an early goal at 2:56 of the first period. The game was 1-1 going into the third, but Montreal got goals from Brendan Gallagher and Tanner Pearson to win it. Jake Allen made 36 saves for Montreal to get the two points. Eric Comrie had 24 saves in the loss. Buffalo had 30 shots in the final two periods against Allen, but didn’t score.
Montreal has just one win in four games, and have only won six of its last 18 games.
It will be a couple of Northeastern University alumni in net, as Cayden Primeau gets the call for Montreal. Primeau is 2-3-0 this season with a 3.72 goals-against average and an .886 save percentage.
Nick Suzuki is Montreal’s leading scorer, as the captain has 21 points in 26 games.
Cole Caufield started the season with four goals in seven games. Since then, he’s had three goals in 19 games.
Join Brian Koziol for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST when you’ll hear from Granato, Dahlin, Levi and Mattias Samuelsson.
