Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - After a tough, playoff style game against the Florida Panthers on Monday, which Buffalo lost, 4-3, the Sabres will try to get back on the horse Wednesday at home against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The home team has won both games between the two teams this season. In early December the Flyers skated to a 5-2 victory while in mid December the Sabres beat Philadelphia 5-3.
Interestingly enough these two teams are tied with a points percentage of .591 and occupy the two Wild Card positions in the Eastern Conference.
Buffalo has won 13-of-15 games and Tage Thompson has gone on a lengthy hot streak. In his last 16 games Thompson has 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points.
Alex Tuch is back on Thompson’s wing and has a four-game points streak. Ryan McLeod also has a four-game points streak. In his last 15 games he has 13 points.
Josh Doan will be on the wing with Josh Norris. He has points in 5-of-6 games scoring four goals and six points.
It’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s turn to be back in net. He’s 5-1-0 in his last six games. In those six games he has a goals against of 2.18 and a save percentage of .930. Overall he’s 9-6-1 with a 2.63 goals against and .904 save percentage.
On Wednesday morning the Sabres sent Zac Jones back to Rochester. Lindy Ruff said Michael Kesselring is available, but won’t play unless a defenseman gets hurt in warmup. My guess is the team doesn’t want Kesselring to come back from injury and play in back-to-back games, so I’m thinking we will likely see him Thursday.
After Ruff was finished I saw Jordan Greenway going hard on the ice with Kesselring and Colten Ellis. I know Ruff has wanted to get Tyson Kozak back into the lineup and it looks like Wednesday is the night. He would play with Peyton Krebs and Beck Malenstyn.
The news on Josh Dunne isn’t good. Ruff said he’s going to miss 4-to-6 weeks with a mid-body injury.,
The Flyers have lost three in a row and four out of six. They’ve had to play the last three games without Jamie Drysdale and Bobby Brink. Brink doesn’t score much unless he’s playing the Sabres. In 10 games vs the Sabres he has 11 points. In 13 games Noah Cates has six goals and seven assists for 13 points.
Dan Vladar has been playing most of the games in net for the Flyers, but Sam Ersson played both games against the Sabres this year. Vladar is 16-7-4 with a 2.42 goals against and .907 save percentage.
Philadelphia’s leading scorer is still Trevor Zegras with 17 goals and 24 assists for 41 points in 44 games.
The Sabres are 22nd in the league on the power play, but in the last 10 games they’re 1-for-21. The Flyers are worse as they’re 31st in the NHL. In their last eight games they’re 2-for-23. In the two games against each other Philadelphia is 2-for-8 and Buffalo is 2-for-11.
Join Mike Schopp and the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6:30 p.m. when you’ll hear from Ruff, Jacob Bryson and associate general manager Marc Bergevin.
Wednesday's broadcast with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray is radio only.
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