Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres enter their final game before the Olympic break against the Pittsburgh Penguins on a 21-4-2 run in their last 27 games. They have also gone 6-1-1 in their last eight contests.
The problem is the Pens are 13-3-3 in their last 19, and also 6-1-1 recently.
Buffalo has done very well this season at home, going 17-7-3, but uncharacteristically, the team lost two of its last three home contests, going 1-1-1.
The Sabres did very well on their road trip to South Florida picking up three out of four points, but the players are upset they didn’t secure all four points. Buffalo had the lead late at Tampa Bay, the Lightning scored with the goaltender pulled to tie the game and won it with 14.4 seconds left in overtime. Rasmus Dahlin is a perfectionist,
“It’s really good that we brought points back, but I don’t think we played very well, at times we played really well, but we’ve got way more in us. We weren’t controlling the puck like we can, we gave up a little too many chances and it’s a good thing, we know we’ve got more.”
A win would put Buffalo in second place in the Atlantic Division because they would have the tie breaker on the Montreal Canadiens. Going in, Buffalo has a points percentage of .625 while Montreal is at .632. The Detroit Red Wings are .621 and the Boston Bruins are .605.
The only game these two teams have played this season was before Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh. The Penguins enter the third period up 1-0 and Jason Zucker tied the game. It only took 31 seconds for Bryan Rust to give Pittsburgh the lead back. Jack Quinn made it 3-2 with 4:18 left, but the Pens got the empty net goal.
Alex Lyon will get the start in this one and he’s 11-1-0 in his last 12 starts.
Lindy Ruff said Josh Norris would’ve played Thursday, but he wasn’t quite ready. Zach Benson is also out, but he expects both to be ready coming out of the break.
Michael Kesselring was a healthy scratch in Tampa and Lindy Ruff said it’s only going to be a one game thing,
“It looked like he lost part of his game and I spent some time with him about where I thought his game was at and he’s been struggling with the injury part of it and coming back and then another injury, so I really just felt just take a breath, take a game off and get him back in tonight, but get your head in the right place.”
Tage Thompson has 17 goals and 19 assists for 36 points in his last 28 games. Over 82 games that comes out to 50 goals and 56 assists for 106 points. Ryan McLeod has 20 assists and 26 points in his last 27 games. Dahlin has four goals and seven assists for 11 points during his six-game scoring streak. In his last 15 games he has seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points.
The Penguins have a definite special teams advantage as they’re third overall in both the power play and penalty kill. Buffalo has plummeted down in penalty kill going from No.1 to No. 9. The Sabres have surrendered a power play goal in four straight games and in 9-of-13. Since Jan. 12 the Sabres have only killed 70.6% of their penalties which is 27th.
Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs have alternated in net since the Penguins acquired Skinner from the Edmonton Oilers. In 13 games with his new team Skinner is 8-4-1 with a 2.72 goals against and .887 points percentage. Silvos will get his second straight start. He’s 10-7-8 with a 2.97 goals against and .895 save percentage.
Not surprisingly Sidney Crosby is far and away Pittsburgh’s leading scorer with 27 goals and 32 assists for 59 points.
Join Mike Schopp at 6 p.m. for pregame coverage on WGR when you’ll hear from Ruff and the Sabres' two Olympians: Thompson and Dahlin.
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