Plenty of Sabres players to watch as Buffalo visits Columbus tonight

Published by hockeybuzz.com, 9-17-2019



Last night the Buffalo Sabres displayed some star-power in their opening preseason game at Pegula Ice Arena on the campus of Penn State University. The 'Pegula' mentioned above is the Pegula family lead by patriarch Terry who sold interests in his East Resources Energy company and donated over $100 million dollars to his alma mater to start a NCAA Division I hockey program. The crown jewel of Terry's generous donation is the 6,000-plus seat multi purpose arena that began hosting Sabres preseason games in 2016 with a game versus the Minnesota Wild. For the past three years Buffalo has opened up the home portion of the preseason against the Pittsburgh Penguins, an organization that Pegula also has ties to.

So it's not surprising that the Sabres trotted out captain Jack Eichel, 2018 first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin, 40-goal scorer Jeff Skinner and 2019 first round pick Dylan Cozens for last nights game in the hopes of some fireworks, especially with a new head coach in Ralph Krueger. The Sabres dominated the first two periods outshooting the Penguins a whopping 37-9 and took a 4-1 lead into the third period. That would dissipate, however, as Pittsburgh scored three unanswered goals to send the game to overtime. Eichel saved the day as he scored the overtime winner with only eight seconds left in the extra session.




Eichel had a goal and an assist last night and was a plus-2, but the team was lead by Conor Sheary who had a goal, two assists and was a plus-4. On the negative side, Dahlin was on the ice for all four Penguins goals and finished a minus-3 along with Skinner and forward Curtis Lazar. And if you get a chance, check out defenseman John Gilmour's goal as he kicks in the afterburners in the neutral zone and buries his breakaway.

Tonight the Sabres won't have the superstar-power of the trio mention earlier as their icing a different group, but there is plenty of intrigue for a number of players who will be skating for the team against the Columbus Blue Jackets:

LW, Victor Olofsson--The 24 yr. old winger did what he was supposed to do at the Prospect's Challenge--dominate. Now it's time to continue that strong showing against the next level of competition. Most consider him to be nearly a shoe-in for the big club but success is about confidence and building that in the preseason will go a long way.

C, Casey Mittelstadt--The second-year center is said to be in much better shape than last year and by the sounds of it he shed most, if not all, of his baby fat through off season workouts. He struggled with tight battles last year and at times tried to do too much with the puck. We'll see what he's learned since last season.

RHD, Jacob Bryson--Was very impressive at the Challenge with his skating and puck-moving ability. The 5'9" defenseman packs a solid 179 lbs. on his smallish frame but gets the most out of it. Adapting to the speed of the game will be his biggest adjustment moving forward.

G, Linus Ullmark--It's only preseason but we'd like to see him more grounded in his crease in stead of overcommitting like he did last season. The Sabres are under a new regime with different systems so we'll see how much that affects him.

C, Arttu Ruotsalainen--The 21 yr. old free-agent signee is looking to continue to make an impression with the hopes of making the Sabres this year. The swift and shifty center had his game on at the Challenge and needs to take it to the next level against better competition.

C, Rasmus Asplund--Yet another player who played like he should have at the Challenge and dominated in the process. Asplund had a real strong camp last season and had an outside shot of making the team. He got off to a slow start in Rochester after being sent down but came on strong the second half of the season. The future two-way, bottom-six center is probably no more than a year away from sticking in Buffalo.

RW, Kyle Okposo--The 31 yr. old right winger is in a system that revolves around speed and pace, two facets of his game that have been lacking. Can he keep up or will he be left in the dust? That's the question for Buffalo's $6 million man.

F, Matej Pekar--He is what he is and the reason to watch him play is to see just how far he can get under the skin of Columbus Blue Jackets players. Pekar is a fun, throwback-type player and is a serious Gordie Howe hat trick candidate whenever he steps on the ice.


Game time is 7 p.m. and will be streamed live locally on sabres.com.