The Sabres come off of their long, 10-day break between games with a back-to-back beginning tonight at Columbus against the Blue Jackets. After tonight it's off to Dallas, TX for a bout against the Stars tomorrow night. All three teams will be in their first action since the All-Star break. While Buffalo and Columbus will be shaking off the cobwebs tonight, the Stars will need to do that tomorrow night against a Sabres team that should be close to game-speed.
As for tonight, this game may help set the tone for Buffalo's final 34 games as the Sabres are facing off against a Columbus team that is five points ahead of them in the standings. Although the Blue Jackets are presently third in the Metropolitan Division, the top four teams in that division are only separated by a total of five points and any one of them could drop out of the top-three and into the wild card spot during the stretch run.
Which is where the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves at this point.
It's been a struggle for Pittsburgh this season and it was compounded last night as they came out of the break with a 6-3 loss at home against the New Jersey Devils in a game they never really were in. We might call that the "rust-factor" as the Penguins, like the Sabres, had their bye week just before the All-Star break and hadn't played a game in nine days. Then again, they've been struggling as of late and have now lost four of their last five contests getting outscored 25-13 in the process.
What's bad for the Pens is good for the Sabres as Buffalo remains four points behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card spot but now has a game in hand.
In looking at the Eastern Conference, unless the Sabres get hot, their focus might very well be on breaking a seven-year playoff drought via a wild card. Tampa Bay is running away with the Atlantic Division and the Maple Leafs look as if they're poised to lockdown at least a top-three spot in the division as they fortified their d-corps by trading for Los Angeles Kings defenseman, Jake Muzzin. The Montreal Canadiens are the surprise of the division as of late and have moved into third place while the Boston Bruins weathered a particularly harsh injury storm and are just two points behind the Habs with two games in hand.
The good news for the Sabres is that they're in the mix at this juncture and have three games in hand on Montreal. The Canadiens are in their bye week right now and the Sabres will make up all three games against the Habs in the next four days. However, three games in hand does not mean an automatic six points, especially with the way Buffalo has been playing as of late. The Sabres lost four of their last five games and nine of their last 14 (4-9-1) heading into their hiatus and they've been struggling with everything from goaltending to scoring to puck-luck. Perhaps this latest stretch is the equalizer to their 10-game winning streak where they had everything going their way.
Regardless of that, they'll need to right the ship and if they don't make some headway in these next three games, we may see them as a seller at the trade deadline. Buffalo has struggled against Columbus with a 4-5-1 record in their last 10 games versus the Blue Jackets, 4-5-1 on the road. This will be the second of three meetings between the two clubs with the Jackets coming out on top 5-4 in overtime back on October 27. They'll have one more game on March 31 in Buffalo to close out the season series.
The Sabres seem to be hoping that the long break will shake his team out of their struggles as that slumping lineup remains almost wholly intact. No moves were made either by trade or call-ups so bench boss Phil Housley will be tapping into the resources at his disposal which probably means no changes in the forward group although there could be a wrinkle on the back end. It looks as if Housley will be pulling defenseman Matt Hunwick out of storage for the first time in 13 games as 33 yr. looks to be joining 28 yr old Marco Scandella on Buffalo's third pairing for tonight's game.
Those two in the lineup means rookie Lawrence Pilut, who's struggled as of late but has played extremely well otherwise, and Nathan Beaulieu, who's already unhappy with his playing time, will be up in the press box. Injured d-man Casey Nelson has begun practicing with the team but isn't quite ready for game action.
Here were the lines and pairings at practice yesterday:
Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart
Sheary-Mittelstadt-Rodrigues
Thompson-Sobotka-Pominville
Girgensons-Larsson-Okposo
McCabe-Ristolainen
Dahlin-Bogosian
Scandella-Hunwick
It would seem as if Housley will use veteran goalie Carter Hutton as the starter tonight and we will probably see backup Linus Ullmark in net tomorrow night.
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