(WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres will complete their season series with the Jets on Friday night in Winnipeg. The Sabres beat the Jets, 5-1, on Monday night back in Buffalo.
The Sabres started a six-game road trip on Wednesday in Philadelphia, where they proceeded to get smoked by the Flyers, 5-2.
Winnipeg was also playing out East on Wednesday. The Jets were wrapping up a five-game road trip in Montreal, losing to the Canadiens in a shootout, 3-2.
The Jets lost four of the five games on the trip, and overall have lost 6-of-7 games. All seven of those games are without maybe the best goaltender in the world, Connor Hellebuyck.
Hellebuyck is out following knee surgery, and Winnipeg has been forced to rely on former Sabres goalie Eric Comrie. He gave up three goals in the first period on Monday against Buffalo and was pulled.
In the seven games since Comrie has been thrown into the No. 1 spot, he’s 2-4-1 with a 3.14 goals-against average and an .891 save percentage. Overall this season, he’s 5-5-1 with a 2.99 goals-against average and an .897 save percentage.
Winnipeg is trying to stay close while their top goalie is out. Their points percentage of .519 has them in ninth place in the Western Conference and out of the playoffs.
Right behind them at .518 are the Utah Mammoth, San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers.
The Jets have two studs up front in Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor. Scheifele has 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points in 26 games, while Connor has 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points. Scheifele is 10th in league scoring, while Connor is 13th.
Scheifele has points in five-straight games, scoring three goals and three assists for six points. He also has points in 9-of-10, scoring five goals and eight assists for 13 points.
Gabe Vilardi is on a bit of a streak with five goals and three assists for eight points in seven games.
Winnipeg is tied with the Sabres for 17th in league scoring, both averaging three goals per-game. The huge difference is Winnipeg is 14th with a goals-against average of 2.96, while despite a huge effort to improve defensively, the Sabres are no better at all in 26th with a 3.41 goals-against average.
While Mattias Samuelsson has improved dramatically on the back end, Bo Byram, Conor Timmins, Owen Power and Michael Kesselring haven’t played anywhere close to their capabilities. Since returning from Sweden and being paired with Samuelsson, Rasmus Dahlin has played extremely well.
For the first time all season, the Sabres gave up two power play goals in a game to the Flyers. Despite that, Buffalo is still second in the league on the penalty kill at 87%. The Tampa Bay Lightning are first in the league at 87.4%.
Tage Thompson was on a hot streak, scoring goals in six-consecutive games and seven out of eight. He had 11 points in those eight games, but since then has disappeared with no goals and one assist in five games.
Thompson has just 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points in 27 games this season. Quite honestly, there’s been too much disappearing in Thompson’s game this year.
Meanwhile, Alex Tuch has nine goals and 15 assists for 24 points in 27 games.
There’s a reason the Sabres are 28th in the NHL with a points percentage .481. When your best players aren’t performing, you’re in trouble.
When you have inconsistent goaltending, four of your defenseman playing pretty poorly and your two best forwards not performing, it’s not a recipe for success.
It seems like general manager Kevyn Adams and head coach Lindy Ruff are just incapable of deciding on a goalie, and it's hurting the team. In the last 10 games, Ruff gave Colten Ellis the net for three games, then it was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for three games, and then he alternated back-and-forth for four games going with Alex Lyon, then Ellis, then Luukkonen and back to Ellis.
Luukkonen made 23 saves on 24 shots faced on Monday against the Jets, but didn't get the net in Philadelphia.
In those 10 games, Luukkonen is 3-1-0 with a 2.01 goals-against average and a save percentage of .916. Ellis is 3-2-0 with a 3.53 goals-against average and an .884 save percentage, while Lyon is 0-1-0 with a 5.00 goals-against average and a .783 save percentage.
I just don't understand why the Sabres don't make Luukkonen the No. 1 goaltender and go from there. He's played well in his last seven appearances, and overall is 4-3-1 with a 2.51 goals-against average and an .899 save percentage.
One player that has been producing for the Sabres is Jason Zucker. In the seven games since returning from being out two weeks with a severe illness, he has four goals and four assists for eight points.
Josh Doan has points in three-straight games. In his last 11 games, the winger has four goals and six assists for 10 points.
Even though this game is in Western Canada, it’s a 7 p.m. faceoff in Western New York. Tune in during "Schopp and the Bulldog" at 6 p.m. for pregame coverage on WGR.
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