Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres have picked up points in seven out of eight games going 4-1-3. That’s a points percentage of .688. That points percentage for the season would have them eighth in the NHL, second in the Atlantic Division and fifth in the Eastern Conference.
The thing that is annoying head coach Lindy Ruff is they’re leaving points on the table. The last three games have gone to overtime against Eastern Conference teams and Ruff knows his team easily could’ve won all three in regulation time giving his team two points and the other team none. Instead, Buffalo got one point and surrendered two to the opponent.
Zach Benson has been fighting a lower-body injury which forced to miss a few late shifts Thursday. Ruff said he’s hoping he’s only out about a week.
That means with Benson and Josh Norris on IR, Isak Rosen comes up and the lines are severely shuffled.
Tage Thompson has told me more than once how much he enjoys playing on a line with Jordan Greenway and on Saturday against the Washington Capitals he’s going to get his wish. Greenway is centering Thompson and Jason Zucker.
Part of the reason for this change is Ruff is not at all happy with Jiri Kulich’s play and has him centering Rosen and Jack Quinn. Those three have had a chemistry in Rochester and Ruff said,
“I need ‘Kuli’ to be better. For playing in that top situation you’ve got to be able to produce more, you’ve got to be able to set up more.
“When I look at it his opportunities and his numbers are down and maybe a different look is all he needs because sometimes I think he just defers to Tage and i don‘t think that’s a good thing
In eight games in the American Hockey League, Rosen is second in scoring with five goals and seven assists for 12 points. Ruff said the winger forced the call up,
“The best thing he’s done is gone down and made a statement that ‘I’m one of the top guys in the American League, I’m playing really well and if we need a guy, I’m your guy,’ and that’s the message he’s sent with the way he’s played.”
The 22-year-old Rosen has played 202 games in Rochester scoring 67 goals and 87 assists for 154 points. In the NHL he has one assist in 15 games.
Just a side note, Amerks defenseman Zac Jones leads the AHL in assists with 10.
At 89.5%, the Sabres are still second in the NHL in penalty killing.
Alex Lyon looked fatigued in Thursday’s game in Boston, so Ruff is giving Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen another opportunity. In his one game it didn’t go well as he’s 0-0-1 with a 3.90 goals against and .826 save percentage. One reason may be that Luukkonen is 5-1-2 against the Caps with a 2.91 goals against and .904 save percentage.
In their last 11 games vs Washington Buffalo is 6-1-4.
Washington played at home on Friday and lost to the New York Islanders 3-1. The Capitals have lost three straight games and four out of six.
Despite leading the NHL with a goals against of 2.27, Washington is only 6-5-0. The other reason is they’re 28th in goals for averaging 2.55 goals per game.
Alex Ovechkin only has two goals in 11 games, but against Buffalo he has 42 goals and 71 points in 67 games.
Logan Thompson has been stellar in net with a 1.51 goals against the .935 save percentage in eight games. The Sabres will get a break and not face him as it’s Charlie Lindgren. He’s 1-2-0 with a 3.72 goals against and .882 save percentage.
Washington has some key injuries with Dylan Strome out. Pierre-Luc Dubois has missed five games and he left Friday’s game after playing just 6:02.
Join Brian Koziol and me for the pregame starting at 6:00 when you’ll hear from Ruff, Thompson and Rosen.