After a lifeless loss to the Washington Capitals on Monday night at KeyBank Center, the Buffalo Sabres will not waste much time looking for a bounce back performance on Tuesday against another one of the worst teams in the National Hockey League.
Buffalo is currently on an 11-game winless streak that started back on Thursday, Feb. 25 against the New Jersey Devils. That night saw Buffalo goalie Linus Ullmark leave the game with a lower-body injury, and also saw the Sabres losing 4-3 in overtime thanks to a Pavel Zacha overtime winner for New Jersey.
Nearly three weeks later, although it feels much longer than that, the Sabres will look to snap its streak in New Jersey, where Buffalo has already won twice this season.
As it stands, the Sabres are currently dead last in the NHL standings with just 16 points, and the team will hit the halfway point of the 2020-21 season with Tuesday's game. In addition, the Sabres are also dead last in the league with a .296 points percentage. The next highest team in the NHL in points percentage is the Ottawa Senators at .344.
Here is also where the Sabres stand across the NHL in other areas of their game:
- Lowest scoring team in the NHL (58 goals)
- Lowest goals per-game rate in the NHL (2.07)
- Third-highest goals-against rate in the NHL (3.41)
- Third-lowest shots per-game rate in the NHL (27.8)
Where the Sabres have excelled this season is with special teams, especially on the power play with a 26.8% conversion rate, good for sixth in the NHL. However, Buffalo has failed to score a power play goal in the last 10 games, going 0-for-16 in that stretch on the man advantage. The last goal on the power play came in the 4-3 overtime loss to the Devils, courtesy of Sam Reinhart.
The penalty kill had been playing well at the start of this losing streak, despite the team's struggles. However, after giving up power play goals in three consecutive games against the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo finds itself ranked 14th in the NHL with an 80.3% kill rate.
While the Sabres may be the worst team in the NHL, the Devils are currently not far behind.
New Jersey enters Tuesday's game with just an 8-13-4 record and 20 points in 25 games played this season. The Devils sit in seventh place in the East Division standings, while ranking 27th in the NHL in points percentage at .400. The team has also gone just 1-7-2 in their last 10 games played.
Here is also where the Devils rank in some areas of their game compared to the rest of the NHL:
- Second-lowest scoring team in the NHL (62 goals)
- Second-lowest penalty kill rate in the NHL (70.5%)
- Fourth-lowest power play rate in the NHL (12.5%)
- Sixth-lowest goals per-game rate in the NHL (2.48)
- 12th in fewest goals-against in the NHL (79)
- 12th-highest goals-against rate in the NHL (3.16)
- 12th-lowest shots per-game rate in the NHL (29.6)
If there is one thing in common between the Sabres and Devils this season is their atrocious records on home ice. Both teams currently boast the worst home record at 2-10-2, with New Jersey going 0-10-1 in their last 11 games at the Prudential Center in Newark.
The Devils' last home win came in Game No. 5 of their season on Jan. 24 in a 2-0 win over the New York Islanders. That game saw New Jersey get two first period goals from Jack Hughes and Zacha, while Scott Wedgewood pitched a 28-save shutout for the team's third win of the season.
After four more games played, the team's 2020-21 season would be put on hold due to a COVID-19 outbreak that happened to spread to the Sabres in the teams' weekend series back on Jan. 30 and 31 at KeyBank Center.
Since the Devils returned from their COVID-19 stoppage this season on Feb. 16, the team has gone 4-10-2 in 16 games. As for the Sabres in 17 games since Feb. 15 after their COVID-19 stoppage, the team has gone just 2-13-2.
The Sabres turned to Carter Hutton on Monday night against Washington after a very good performance on Saturday in a losing effort to the Penguins. However, his effort on Monday was not his best, giving up six goals on 30 shots faced.
It would not be surprising to see Jonas Johansson get another shot in goal for the Sabres on Tuesday with them playing on back-to-back nights. Johansson has yet to earn his first win this season, going 0-4-1 in six games played this season with a 3.91 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage.
Buffalo is also entering Tuesday night's game with a streak of 151:14 without having scored a goal. The Sabres' last goal came Thursday night against the Penguins courtesy of Victor Olofsson, who scored at the 8:46 mark of the second period. Since then, Buffalo has gone more than seven-and-a-half periods without a goal.
In addition, the Sabres have been shutout six times this season, matching their win total for the 2020-21 campaign.
The Sabres will, once again, be without rookie forward Dylan Cozens for Tuesday night's matchup as he continues to deal with his upper-body injury suffered Thursday against Pittsburgh. Sabres head coach confirmed Tuesday morning on the Howard and Jeremy Show on WGR that Cozens remains day-to-day, and that he hopes to have the 20-year-old available to re-join the team for the next couple of games.
Ahead of Tuesday night's matchup, the team announced that defensemen Brandon Davidson and Henri Jokiharju were called up from the taxi squad, while forward Rasmus Asplund and defenseman Jacob Bryson have been loaned back to the taxi squad.
Krueger said during his pregame conference call that Davidson and Jokiharju would be inserted into the lineup for Bryson and Matt Irwin, respectively, as the team wants to continue to get some different looks, while resting a younger player like Bryson.
Also returning to the lineup on Tuesday in place of Asplund will be Cody Eakin, who was a healthy scratch for the Sabres on Monday against Washington.
As for the Devils, it will likely be Mackenzie Blackwood in goal on Tuesday. The 24-year-old has lost his last six starts in goal, going 0-6-0 with a 4.26 goals-against average and an .840 save percentage. His last win happened to come against the Sabres in the Feb. 25 overtime victory in Buffalo.
Overall on the 2020-21 season, Blackwood is 5-8-1 with a 3.12 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.
Zacha is having a career-year in his fifth full season with the Devils. The 23-year-old already has seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 25 games this season. The former sixth overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft is on pace for career-highs this season in goals (16) and points (38) in a full 56 games.
Hughes was leading the Devils in scoring for a while after putting up 11 points (4+7) in the team's first 13 games of the season. In the 12 games since, the former first overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft has just two goals and an assist.
Miles Wood has been a thorn in the Sabres' side in five games this season with three goals and an assist for four points. The Buffalo native leads the Devils with eight goals in all 25 games played to date.
Faceoff from Newark is set for 7 p.m. ET at the Prudential Center with the Paul William Beltz Pregame Show starting at 6 p.m. ET on WGR with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog. During the pregame, you will hear Krueger's pregame comments, and more from Jokiharju and forward Curtis Lazar.
