Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres have taken five out of six points from the Tampa Bay Lightning this season that have included 8-7 and 6-2 wins. The 8-7 game turned into a dirty, 102 penalty minute brawl. The Bolts showed the Sabres no respect starting their backup goalie and thinking the could beat the Sabres to a pulp. Buffalo stood up to everything and newly acquired Logan Stanley was forced to watch because of an immigration problem. He was here and itching to get on the ice, but he said he was proud of his new teammates,
"It speaks volumes to how tight this group is and they've been through a lot together and it's brought them closer together, it's awesome to see everybody sticking up for everybody."
Tampa Bay has two of the dirtiest players in the NHL in Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel. Hagel punched two different Sabres when they were down on the ice and defenseless, but he's injured and won't be playing on Monday. Stanley said who knows if emotions will spill over this time,
"In Winnipeg we had a couple with Minnesota and the follow up game is a lot of anticipation and that was a crazy game (The Tampa Bay game) and you don't see those very often, maybe one every five years, so I expect it to be an intense game, lots of compete and it's a big game for both of us, so it's a great challenge for us coming home after two games we didn't like on the road."
Ruff is anticipating another physical affair as Luke Schenn goes in for Zach Metsa who did struggle against the Washington Capitals and Josh Dunne is back for Tyson Kozak. Lindy Ruff said sometimes the rematch is just as bad as they first game,
"It's hard question because sometimes the rematch does, I think you can find a case in point for both sides of that story."
The Sabres need a regulation win because the Lightning are two points ahead for the top spot in the Atlantic Division and have a game in hand.
The Sabres have only won two of their last seven games and their defensive efforts have slipped drastically. In those seven games Buffalo is 30th in goals against at 4.29 goals against per game. All year it's been their defense that has fed their offense and in those seven games they're 26th at 2.71 goals per game.
The Montreal Canadiens lost to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday 3-0 and are now tied with the Sabres.
Tage Thompson missed the morning skate due to maintenance, but Ruff expects him to play.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will get the call in goal. He lost his last start in Ottawa, but only gave up two goals on 22 shots. Luukkonen is 9-2-1 in his last 12. Overall Luukkonen is 19-9-3 with a 2.57 goals against and .910 save percentage.
Rasmus Dahlin has two goals and five assists for seven points in the three games against the Lightning.
The Sabres have been able to keep pace despite Tampa Bay going 8-1-2 in their last 11. In three games against the Sabres this year Kucherov has three goals and four assists for seven points. Overall he's second in the NHL in scoring with 42 goals and 83 assists for 125 points.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is expected to be in net. In the 6-2 win in Tampa, the Sabres chased the Russian goaltender scoring five goals on 14 shots in 21:54 of work. Overall he's 37-13-4 with a 2.31 goals against .912 save percentage.
Join "Schopp and the Bulldog" for the pregame starting at 6:00 when you'll hear from Ruff, Stanley and Jordan Greenway.
On March 8 Buffalo won 8-7 in a game that featured 102 minutes in penalties
