Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres will continue their six-game homestand on Thursday night when they host the Ottawa Senators. Buffalo remains seven points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Buffalo started the homestand on Tuesday night with a 5-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken. That broke a two-game winning streak for the Sabres.
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Buffalo will be without their leading goal scorer, as Jeff Skinner is considered week-to-week after suffering an upper-body injury in Tuesday's loss to the Kraken. Skinner has 17 goals in 38 games this season.
With the hole now among the top-six forward group, I think it would be a good time to call up winger Jiri Kulich from the Rochester Americans and give him an opportunity on the line with Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson.
Kulich has 16 goals in 23 games with the Amerks, and has improved his overall game. He has also been chosen to play in the AHL All-Star Game this year.
In the meantime, Sabres captain Kyle Okposo will return to the lineup on Thursday after missing a few games with a lower-body injury.
Rookie defenseman Ryan Johnson will also make his return on Thursday after being a healthy scratch.
The first two times these two teams played this season was in Ottawa, with Buffalo winning the first game, 6-4, and dropping the second contest, 5-1. The first game wasn’t as close as the score would indicate, as Buffalo led 5-1 before giving up three late goals.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will get the start in net on Thursday. He’s 8-8-2 this season with a 3.01 goals-against average and an .899 save percentage.
Luukkonen has played very well in his last three starts. He’s coming off a 40-save performance this past Saturday night on 41 shots faced in a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s only allowed three goals in his last two starts.
Thursday is the last game of Ottawa’s five-game road trip, where they lost the first four against the Vancouver Canucks, Seattle, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames.
The Sens have also lost 11-of-14, but one of those three wins was against the Sabres.
This game features the 28th-ranked power play in the Sabres against the 31st-ranked penalty kill in Ottawa.
These are also two of the league’s worst defensive clubs. The biggest difference is the Sens can score goals and the Sabres can’t.
Brady Tkachuk leads Ottawa with 17 goals, but he only has 29 points. Where the Sens captain kills his team is he's second in the league with 88 penalty minutes. He can’t be sitting in the penalty box for his team to win.
Tkachuk has been scoring better lately with four goals and six assists for 10 points in 12 games.
Josh Norris has gone cold with no points in seven games.
Both Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg have been playing in net for Ottawa. Forsberg will get the start on Thursday, as he's 7-8-0 this season with a 3.34 goals-against average and an .889 save percentage.
Join Mike Schopp and the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST when you’ll hear from Don Granato, Dylan Cozens and Tuch.
