(WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals are the only Eastern Conference teams playing on Monday. A win in Seattle over the Kraken could help Buffalo gain two points on many ahead of them in the Wild Card race.
Buffalo is five points back of the Detroit Red Wings, who are in the eighth and final playoff spot. The Sabres trail the Caps, who are in Calgary on Monday, as well as the New York Islanders by four points.
The Sabres are currently tied in the standings with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Buffalo visits Seattle on Monday with an all-time record of 0-5-0 against the Kraken.
The Sabres lost in Detroit, 4-1, on Saturday, but have won three of their last four games, and have gone 8-4-1 in their last 13 games.
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The power play continues to produce for Buffalo, as the Sabres have a power play goal in 3-of-4 games and 10-out-of-14 contests. The penalty kill slumped for a bit, but it seems to be bouncing back. Buffalo is a perfect 6-for-6 in their last two games, and have killed 12-of-13 in their last four games.
When Seattle was in Buffalo on Jan. 9, Alex Tuch made it 2-2 with an early second period goal, but the Kraken took over with three second period goals on Devon Levi to take a 5-2 lead into intermission.
The Sabres had 38 shots on Kraken goalie Joey Daccord in the loss, including 19 in the first period.
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Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will likely play in the Sabres' first game of this back-to-back, while Levi is likely to play Tuesday in Vancouver against the Canucks. Luukkonen is 22-17-3 this season with 2.40 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage.
Jeff Skinner played the third period on Saturday with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch. Sabres head coach Don Granato is demanding a lot more than he’s gotten lately from Skinner.
Buffalo could use bounce back games from Rasmus Dahlin, as well as Bo Byram. Saturday was the first time I saw Byram struggle with the Sabres, and Dahlin just had one of those afternoons. He wasn’t good at all.
This has not been the Kraken’s year, as they’ve lost four in-a-row entering Monday night. In three of those games, they scored one goal or less.
Daccord has lost four of his last five games, and he has played in three of the last five contests. Philipp Grubauer has lost three of four games.
Seattle hasn’t been any better at home this season than the Sabres, as the Kraken are 14-14-6 on home ice.
The Kraken have a 27-goal scorer this season in Jared McCann, but they do have trouble scoring goals overall. McCann is their leading scorer with 53 points in 65 games.
As of Monday, the Kraken are 11 points out of a playoff spot, so things aren’t looking good for them in the Western Conference.
Join Brian Koziol and myself for Monday's pregame coverage on WGR starting at 9 p.m. ET.
