Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – As the Buffalo Sabres prepare to face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, they will get their top off-season acquisition into the lineup. Michael Kesselring had a nagging ailment in training camp and he said it just got to the point where he had to rest it to get it better. That meant missing the rest of camp and the first nine games of the season.
When Buffalo acquired him it was thought that he’d be a good consistent partner for Owen Power, but Conor Timmins has been that for the young defenseman.
Timmins is a player Lindy Ruff wanted for the team and at 21 minutes of icetime per game, it’s a lot more than I thought he’d get playing in a third pair.
Rasmus Dahlin was supposed to pair with Bo Byram to be Buffalo’s No. 1 pair, but neither has looked all that good this season and Ruff has broken them up. The head coach said,
“I think some of the puck play that has two guys maybe trying too much offensively, but some of the puck decisions have led to more chances against us.”
Dahlin will likely play with Mattias Samuelsson while Byram will probably be with Kesselring.
Kesselring brings size to the blue line and he’s been really wanting to get in there to try to help his new team,
“I definitely didn’t want to miss with new systems and everything, and I know I was a big acquisition this summer and I really feel that this is the year that I can prove myself, but it just got to the point where I was going to hurt myself more.”
On Monday after practice I had a chance to chat with Jack Quinn about his skating this season and what he’s done to improve it. Quinn said getting stronger in the legs helped, but he also talked to a former Sabre about his skating coach,
“JJ (Peterka) set me up with him and it’s his guy from Germany, so I changed my stride. I love the way JJ skates and I tried to get a little bit of that and his name is Yanick Dube and he helped me a lot with that, so I think it’s coming along.”
Quinn has three goals and three assists for six points this season and he said being a better skater has allowed him to get to the middle of the ice to unleash his elite shot,
“Definietly, I think it’s always been a strength of mine to get into the middle of the ice and create shots for myself, but just with winning more races and having a little more leg power through skating, I’m able to get there a lot more it seems, so that’s what I’m talking about when I say it’s paid off.”
Ruff has mentioned more than once what skating has done for Quinn’s game,
“He’s been skating really well, and the biggest difference is he’s coming up the ice and he’s really skating well, he’s making things happen on his own and he had a great summer and the focus was more power, more endurance and it’s showing.”
The Sabres are 4-1-1 in their last six games and are 4-2-0 at home including four straight wins.
Tage Thompson has gotten hot picking up three goals and four points in the two-games series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Alex Tuch has points in five of his last seven games netting three goals and four assists for seven points.
Alex Lyon will be back in goal. He’s 3-4-0 with a 2.61 goals against and a superb .923 save percentage.
The Blue Jackets come into the game 4-4-0. Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko have nine and eight points respectively. Voronkov has developed after being a fourth-round pick of the Jackets in 2019 while Marchenko was a second-round pick the year before. Ruff said they’ll have their hands full with the two Russians,
“That top line is really dangerous, and 5-on-5 that’s one of the better lines you’re going to face in the league.
“You’ve got a heavy guy around the net, you’ve got Marchenko who can carry the puck and got a great shot, good speed and then they got some D (Zach Werenski) that join, so they’re a very dangerous team.”
Marchenko has points in six out of seven games while Voronkov has points in seven out of eight including a four game points streak
Their center Sean Monahan was held off the score sheet in the first five games, but he has points in three straight games.
Elvis Merzlikins and Jet Greaves have been alternating in net. Greaves would be up in the rotation. He has three games of giving up just two goals, but he allowed five in his last start against the Washington Capitals. He’s 1-3-0 with a 2.79 goals against and .903 save percentage.
At 3-1-0 Columbus has been much better on the road than at home.
Since the Blue Jackets entered the NHL they have pretty much owned the Sabres going 27-16-1-3. In their last 10 games in Buffalo they’ve gone 5-2-3.
Join “Schopp and the Bulldog” for the pregame starting at 5:45 when you’ll hear from Ruff, Quinn and Timmins.