With only two preseason games left and less than 10 days until the Buffalo Sabres open up the regular season at Pittsburgh against the Penguins, head coach Ralph Kreuger is icing a lineup tonight that will be very similar to the one he'll be using on October 3. At least up front.
Although injuries have been a huge factor on the blueline, the forwards look to be pretty set with maybe a few question marks, and here are the projected lines for tonight's game against the Columbus Blue Jacktes (from sabres.com):
Victor Olofsson - Jack Eichel - Sam Reinhart
Jeff Skinner - Marcus Johansson - Kyle Okposo
Jimmy Vesey - Casey Mittelstadt - Evan Rodrigues
Zemgus Girgensons - Vladimir Sobotka - Tage Thompson
Some interesting notes about this lineup include Olofsson getting a shot with Eichel and Reinhart on the top line and, one would assume, more time on the top powerplay unit on the right half-wall. Olofsson is coming off of two consecutive seasons where he led his team in scoring--Frolunda (SHL,) 27 goals and the Rochester Americans, 30 goals--and turned that roll into an impressive Prospects Challenge and training camp thus far. He had two goals against the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday. The first one was vintage "Goalofsson" as he blasted a one-timer home on the powerplay while he snuck into the slot on his second goal for an easy finish after Reinhart threaded him a pass through the crease.
This is a prime opportunity for Olofsson to cement his place riding shotgun on Eichel's line, at least to start the season.
For as promising as that development could be, the most intriguing player in this lineup may be Johansson because he'll be playing center for the second game in a row. Although it's been a while since Johansson has played that position, he's willfully and happily taking on the challenge. Johansson will be pivot on the second line with Skinner sniping on his left wing. Although it should still be looked at as a reach having him play there, it does move Mittelstadt to what should be a more comfortable third line role. Mittelstadt struggled as rookie last year when he was thrust in to a No. 2 center role and had an awful first preseason game at Columbus. He started out rough against Toronto in his next game but seemed to get stronger as the game went on.
Other than that we have Okposo getting yet another shot at a top-six role and Thompson in the lineup on the fourth line. One would think that sometime during the game tonight, those two roles will be reversed with Thompson getting a shot to show what he's got up top.
The defense seems to be in a continual state of flux as it was announced that Jake McCabe is out for the rest of the preseason with a lower body injury. Perhaps it's more precautionary than anything as the Sabres are beat up on the blueline to begin with and don't need any more serious injuries. They knew coming into camp that they'd be with out Lawrence Pilut (shoulder surgery) and were thinking that Zach Bogosian would recover from hip surgery in time to make the start of the regular season, but that won't happen as they don't expect Bogosian to be back until at least mid-October.
Joining them on the injured list this preseasons was Brandon Montour, who many thought would be on the top pairing next to Rasmus Dahlin. Montour may or may not be back for the season opener.
With that in mind, Henri Jokiharju and John Gilmour seem to be in a battle to make the roster and will be on the ice tonight. Here are the projected pairings:
Dahlin - Rasmus Ristolainen
Gilmour - Colin Miller
Marco Scandella - Jokiharju
Kreuger split up Miller and Scandella, who had been mainstays on the third pairing most of the preseason. Gilmour and Miller make for a very speedy pair while Scandella can be the defensive anchor while Jokiharju gets up ice.
The two 'Rasmi" are on the top pairing again and one would think that Kreuger and Co. will give them every opportunity to succeed as a pair. It really hasn't worked that well in the past, but apparently they're ready to give it another go.
Carter Hutton will be backed up by Linus Ullmark in net tonight.
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