Philadelphia, Pa. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres head out to start a six-game road trip on Wednesday, where they play the Philadelphia Flyers. Buffalo has won two of its last threes games away from home ice.
Overall this season, the Sabres are 2-6-2 away from Western New York.
This past Saturday in St. Paul, Colten Ellis recovered from the first bad game of his NHL career, stopping 22-of-24 shots faced, including two huge saves in overtime to beat the Minnesota Wild in a shootout.
Ellis had his own net in Tuesday’s practice, so he’ll likely play Wednesday. Ellis is 4-2-0 this season with a 3.13 goals-against average and an .898 save percentage.
Buffalo has won 6-of-9 games, yet they’re still dead last in the Eastern Conference, along with the Florida Panthers with a points percentage of .500. If you go by points, the Sabres are four points out of second place in the Atlantic Division, held by both the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens. They’re five points behind the two Wild Card positions in the conference.
Buffalo is starting the road trip with only six defensemen on the roster, but it sounds like one will be called up from the Rochester Americans starting Friday in Winnipeg.
Josh Norris played his first full game of the season Monday against the Jets and had two goals and an assist.
The Sabres have gone four-straight games without giving up a power play goal in seven chances. They’ve scored a power play goal in five out of the last 10 games.
The Flyers are one of the three teams in the Eastern Conference that are five points ahead of Buffalo. Philadelphia has won 6-of-8 games.
Dan Vladar plays most of the games in goal for the Flyers, where he’s 10-5-1 this season with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage.
However, it's going to be Sam Ersson in net against the Sabres on Wednesday. He's 4-2-2 this season with a 3.09 goals-against average and an .859 save percentage.
Flyers forward Tyson Foerster is going to be out 2-to-3 months with an upper-body injury. He had been on fire in his last seven games, scoring six goals.
Former Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras is the Flyers' leading scorer with nine goals and 16 assists for 25 points in 25 games.
The only place to hear Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray is on WGR Sports Radio 550. Tune in during "Schopp and the Bulldog" for pregame coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. when you’ll hear from Lindy Ruff and Zach Benson.
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