Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres will host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday with Dustin Tokarski in net. He’s 4-6-3 this season with a 3.27 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was cleared to play by doctors on Wednesday, and despite playing well for the nine games before he got injured, was sent to the Rochester Americans.
Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato says with the way the team’s playing and with Luukkonen not having a game since Jan. 11, he wouldn’t have used him. The Amerks have a string of games coming up, and Granato believes that’s what his rookie goalie needs.
“That excites us, because obviously we want him back up here. I don’t think there’s anybody in the room that’s not excited to see him in his next game here," Granato said following Thursday's morning skate. "He’s a young guy, and I don’t think our team has played well. I like putting young guys in the net when our team is playing better, so coming into the break, I didn’t like our game. We need to play more to our identity, and we need to get back to that. It goes hand-in-hand with that.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable jumping him ahead of 'Andy' or 'Ticker' right now. Let him get some games and get into a rhythm, and we’ll see where we’re at then.”
Granato used his break to watch some of his team’s games from earlier in the year.
“I hate to say get back to the way we were playing, because I fully believe we’re better. We’re just not playing to our identity,” he explained.
What the head coach wants is more pace, more puck pressure and a lot less hesitation or fear. He talked about players backing off, thinking that if they do that, they won’t make a mistake.
You might think since this is a young team, it’s the kids making the errors. However, Granato says at the NHL level, it doesn’t work that way.
“It’s usually the older players, because they’ve had more failure in the careers than the young guys," Granato said. "That is the advantage of having more young guys - they are fearless.
Defenseman Casey Fitzgerald will be in the lineup on Thursday, making Jacob Bryson a healthy scratch.
Over the years, it seems like every time I see a team coming off a week break, the game is fast with numerous mistakes.
“We use the term clumsy," Granato said with a chuckle. "We looked a little clumsy in practice the other day, the pace was high, but we just didn’t have the mechanics there.
“It’s their second game back, which is somewhat of an advantage because they’ve worked through it. But they did look sharp in their first game, and we hope we can look and feel the same way.”
Columbus fell behind 2-0 in Washington on Tuesday night, but scored to win the game with 45 seconds left.
The Blue Jackets are fifth in the Metropolitan Division, three points ahead of the New York Islanders and 16 points back of the Capitals.
Patrik Laine got hurt in practice on Wednesday and is a game-time decision for this contest. Laine has six goals in his last three games, scoring two in all of them. That’s half his goal total for the season.
Surprisingly, this will be the first time Elvis Merzlikins will ever play against the Sabres in his career. He’s 15-12-1 this season with a 3.41 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. In his last three games, he’s given up 17 goals.
Columbus has the second-worst goals-against average in the NHL at 3.68. The Sabres are 27th at 3.47.
These two teams give up the most shots per-game in the NHL: Buffalo averages 34.9 shots-against, and Columbus averages 35.4.
Despite all that, the Blue Jackets have won three out of four games.
Join the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST when he’ll be joined by Granato, Rasmus Dahlin, Jeff Skinner and Casey Mittelstadt.
Losi and Gangi
