Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres will try to add to their undefeated 2024 on Tuesday when the Seattle Kraken come to town.
Buffalo has two-straight wins, and has also won three-of-four games, but they have never beaten the Kraken in four tries.
The truth is, only one of those four games was even close. Seattle has averaged 5.25 goals in its four wins over the Sabres.
Buffalo has gotten excellent goaltending recently from both Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi. Tuesday will be Levi’s turn in the rotation, as he's coming off his best game this season, stopping 32-of-33 shots in a 6-1 win in Montreal over the Canadiens.
Levi is 5-2-1 in his last eight decisions. Overall this season, he is 8-6-2 with a 3.22 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage.
Related
A huge reason the Sabres have won two-straight games is they've only given up two goals and have gone 7-for-8 on the penalty kill. The only goal came at the tail end of a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Tage Thompson has points in six-out-of-seven games, scoring five goals and five assists for 10 points.
Casey Mittelstadt remains Buffalo’s leading scorer with 33 points in 40 games.
Despite being off since Saturday, the Sabres haven’t lost any ground in the standings, as they’re six points out of the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Teams they have to catch on the way to eighth place are picking up their games in-hand. The New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals have two games in-hand, while the Canadiens and Penguins have one.
Sabres head coach Don Granato told reporters on Tuesday morning that winger Jordan Greenway is OK after missing practice on Monday with an illness and will play. He also said Victor Olofsson is feeling better, but won’t play.
The Kraken got off to a horrible start this season, but are now riding a six-game winning streak and are 8-0-2 in their last 10 games.
Seattle’s rise came right after goalie Phillipp Grubauer got hurt and Joey Daccord took over. In his last nine games, Daccord is 7-0-2 with a .958 save percentage and 1.31 goals-against average.
Overall this season, Daccord is 10-5-8 with a 2.29 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage.
The 27-year-old has never put up numbers like this in the NHL. Before this season, Daccord had only played 19 NHL games with the Kraken and Ottawa Senators. Seattle took him from Ottawa in the Expansion Draft.
Defenseman Vince Dunn is Seattle’s leading scorer with 33 points in 39 games.
Dunn is sixth in NHL defensive scoring, while Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is seventh with 32 points. Dunn is seventh in assists with 26, while Dahlin leads all defensemen with 12 goals.
Matty Beniers was the second overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft behind Owen Power, who went first overall to the Sabres. Beniers won the Calder Trophy last season as the NHL’s best rookie.
Things haven’t been the same this year for Beniers, as he only has five goals and 13 assists for 18 points in 39 games.
Jared McCann leads Seattle in goals with 14.
Join the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST when you’ll hear from Granato, Power and Kyle Okposo, who is close to returning from a lower-body injury.
Related
