Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres have two goalies on streaks, but it appears head coach Lindy Ruff will go with Alex Lyon on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Lyon has played in four-straight games, going 3-0-0 with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage. He’s backstopped the Sabres' first three-game winning streak of the season.
Overall this season, Lyon is 6-6-3 with a 2.99 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been a much better goalie at home than on the road, going 4-1-0 with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage. Luukkonen has lost three of his last four games, with the three losses on the road and the win at home.
The Sabres have won 4-of-6 at home and are 9-5-2 in Buffalo.
Even with getting six of their last six points and winning nine of 15 games, the Sabres haven’t passed anybody in the Eastern Conference standings, and are still in last place. Winning 9-of-15 is the 10th-best record in the NHL during that time period with a points percentage of .600.
The team they’re facing Thursday has a points percentage of .633 during that time period, and are in a playoff spot, holding down third place in the Metropolitan Division.
In the Sabres' three-game winning streak, they’ve gone 3-for-10 on the power play and have killed 8-of-10 penalties. They outscored the Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks and Seattle Kraken, 10-6.
Another reason for better play recently is the Sabres' best players have consistently been their best players.
"When 'Tommer' [Tage Thompson] starts scoring and [Alex] Tuch has put a couple in, and now we got [Josh] Norris back in the lineup making plays, I think if we can get Norris back in consistently, that just gives us another weapon," said Ruff following Thursday's morning skate. "I think when those guys are producing and making plays, we have more depth and get away from matchups."
Norris has points in all five games he’s played since coming back from injury, scoring two goals with six assists for eight points.
Rasmus Dahlin has two goals and seven assists for nine points in his last seven games.
Thompson has goals in four-consecutive games, to go with three assists for seven points.
Tuch has points in 6-of-7 games, netting three goals and four assists for seven points.
The Sabres are coming off a six-game road trip, where they went 3-3-0. It started with a 5-2 loss in Philadelphia.
Peyton Krebs was ill Wednesday and missed practice, but was on the ice Thursday for the morning skate. He told Ruff he felt better.
Meanwhile, Conor Timmins wasn’t on the ice, and Ruff said the defenseman is dealing with "A little bit of an injury." Ruff called him a game-time decision.
Buffalo did get some good news for the blue line, though, as Michael Kesselring is back after missing 14 games with injury.
"I think he’s been trying to play catch-up from the first injury (he missed the first nine games of the season). He said he feels better than the last time coming back," Ruff said.
"We know he’s a great skater, and that injury set him back. I think just execute the first pass and get involved when you can get involved, because he’s got a great set of legs to get up ice."
Some more good news for the Sabres is goalie Colten Ellis is out of concussion protocol and was at the morning skate. Ruff says he’s going to need some time to get some practices.
The Flyers have lost 3-of-4 games, but picked up one point in all three losses.
Former Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen came back from injury and played his first game of the season Tuesday in Montreal against the Canadiens.
Leading scorer Trevor Zegras has points in five-straight games and 9-of-10. In those 10 games, he has seven goals and five assists for 12 points.
Overall this season, Zegras has 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points in 32 games.
Dan Vladar has been in net for four of the Flyers' last five games.
It was Sam Ersson in goal against the Sabres in Philadelphia, and he will once again face Buffalo on Thursday. Ersson is 5-3-3 this season with a 2.96 goals-against average and an .870 save percentage.
The Flyers are a decent team on the road, going 7-4-2 this year.
Thursday is a radio only game with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the play-by-play. I’ll join "Schopp and the Bulldog" at 6 p.m., and then pregame coverage will kick off at 6:30 p.m. on WGR when you’ll hear from Ruff, Dahlin, Tuch and Thompson.
Faceoff is slated for 7:35 p.m.
Related
