Nashville, Tenn. (WGR 550) – With back-to-back road games and very long travel, the Buffalo Sabres didn’t hold a morning skate in Nashville on Thursday.
Sabres head coach Don Granato said Wednesday the newest member of the team, defenseman Bo Byram, flew into Nashville to meet the team.
Byram missed his last game with the Colorado Avalanche due to an illness, but Granato says the young defenseman told him he’s feeling better. Byram played a lot this season with Cale Makar, so Granato said he'd pair him with Rasmus Dahlin.
Granato pretty much said after Tuesday’s practice that Eric Comrie will be in goal for the Sabres against the Predators. That breaks Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s streak of 10-straight starts.
Comrie last played on Feb. 15 against the Florida Panthers. Comrie played pretty well that day, giving up three goals on 29 shots. It was basically a 2-0 game until the Panthers scored an empty net goal followed by a power play goal at 19:48, in which nobody seemed too interested in defending.
This season, Comrie is 1-6-0 with a 3.87 goals-against average and an .868 save percentage.
With the NHL Trade Deadline coming Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. EST, it’ll be interesting to see if Kyle Okposo or Zemgus Girgensons are in the lineup on Thursday night.
Erik Johnson could also be moved by Friday, as he’s only played two of the Sabres' last seven games.
In Toronto, Victor Olofsson returned after being scratched for nine-straight games and 14-out-of-16 games. He scored the Sabres' only goal with a bullet wrist shot from the left circle that went far side over the glove of Maple Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov.
It was his first goal in 15 games, with his last goal coming on Dec. 7 in Boston against the Bruins.
Olofsson has asked to be traded, and if general manager Kevyn Adams can find an interested team, I think he will be traded.
Buffalo is 5-2-1 in its last eight games, which has gained them two points on the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning in the playoff race.
In December, Nashville came to Buffalo and be the Sabres, 2-1. Luukkonen made 27 saves for Buffalo in the losing effort.
The Sabres are 6-1-1 in their last eight road games, and are 8-2-1 in their last 11 away from home.
Nashville just keeps rolling along, as the Vegas Golden Knights and the Predators hold down the two Wild Card positions in the Western Conference with 73 points. That’s six points ahead of the St. Louis Blues and Seattle Kraken.
Nashville has points in nine-straight games, going 8-0-1. Their only blemish recently came Tuesday in Montreal, where the Canadiens won 4-3 in overtime.
Gustav Nyquist has 33 points in his last 30 games. He has points in five-straight games, where he’s recorded 10 points.
Former Sabres center Ryan O’Reilly has a five-game point streak, where he has seven points. O’Reilly has 23 goals and 31 assists for 54 points in 63 games this season.
Filip Forsberg is Nashville’s leading scorer with 30 goals and 34 assists for 64 points in 63 games.
Juuse Saros has played 50 of Nashville’s 63 games in net. He’s 26-21-3 this season with a 2.85 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage.
Join Brian Koziol and myself for pregame coverage starting at 7 p.m. EST when you’ll hear from Granato, Alex Tuch and hopefully Byram.
