Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Sunday should provide us with two angry teams, but when it comes to the Buffalo Sabres, they don’t tend to come out angry very often.
The Nashville Predators were home against the New York Rangers on Saturday and took a 2-0 first period lead, only to lose 4-3.
Buffalo played 15 very good minutes on Saturday in Carolina, but after the Hurricanes scored two quick first period goals, they stopped competing and got waxed, 6-2.
As a matter of fact, it’s the second time in four games the Sabres gave up the ship, as they also lost in New Jersey to the Devils, 7-2. Mixed in was a sloppy 6-4 loss to the St. Louis Blues and an extremely impressive 5-1 win over the Rangers.
In the win over the Rangers, the Sabres showed what they’re capable of, but very rarely do.
Buffalo has now lost three-of-four games, and seven out of 10. The thing is, they’re still only four points out of a playoff spot, if they ever want to start listening to their coach and play the way that he tells them to play.
The only person, starting with Terry Pegula on down, that doesn’t seem to be kidding himself is Dylan Cozens. After Saturday’s game, he talked about how soft this team is, and said he and the rest of the team needs to be better.
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The Sabres, of course, miss Tage Thompson’s scoring abilities, but they also miss his penalty killing. Since he went out with an injury that he got killing a penalty, the team is 16-of-22 on the kill. That’s only a 72.7% rate, which would currently rank 30th in the NHL.
Buffalo is currently at an 81.3% kill rate, which is 13th in the league, but it's falling fast.
There was no morning skate, but it’s likely that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will get the call in net for Buffalo. He had one of his very few bad games in St. Louis on Thursday.
Luukkonen is 6-4-1 this season with a 2.88 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
The Sabres are 3-1-0 in the last four games against the Preds.
At 11-12-0, Nashville is three points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. They’ve been a very streaky team lately, currently riding a two-game losing streak. Before that, the Predators had won six in-a-row, and before that, they had lost four-straight and six out of seven.
With Kevin Lankinen playing in goal against the Rangers on Saturday, Buffalo will probably see All-Star goalie Juuse Saros on Sunday. Saros doesn’t have All-Star numbers this season, though, going 8-10-0 with a 3.17 goals-against average and an .895 save percentage.
Nashville is led by Filip Forsberg, who has 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points in 23 games. Former Sabres center Ryan O’Reilly has 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points in 23 games.
Join Brian Koziol for pregame coverage at 6 p.m. EST when I’ll join him along with Pat Malacaro for a roundtable discussion on the first quarter of the 2023-24 season.
You’ll also hear Cozens' interview from Saturday night, as well as head coach Don Granato’s interview from Sunday evening.
