Which version of the Sabres show up?
Buffalo Sabres (7-9-4) vs Chicago Blackhawks (10-6-4)
Puck Drop: 7:00 pm Eastern Time | Keybank Center | Buffalo, New York
TV: MSG, ESPN+
Radio: WGR 550
Know Your Opponent
Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 10-6-4 | 24 PTS
Last Game: 3-2 defeat at home against Seattle Kraken
Division Ranking: 4th, Central
PP: 9th, 24.1% (14/58) [Sabres: 24th, 16.4% (10/61)]
PK: 7th, 83.6% (61/73) [Sabres: 1st, 89.8% (53/59)]
What to Watch
1. Who are you.. who who?
Every time the Sabres look like they are in the process of turning things around and about to embark on a winning stretch, they put in a minimal effort game that blows up in their faces. This more often than not happens against lower-ranked teams and is a real sign of lack of maturity. Buffalo continues to be one of the younger teams in the league and even as they evolve and the youngsters of a few seasons ago are now leaders, the spotty workrate somehow continues to plague this team.
With twenty games played, the top of the Eastern Conference is just seven points away, with a wildcard berth six points away. This next quarter of hockey is going to go a long way towards determining whether we’re picking very high up the draft board next year, or finally exorcising the playoff drought demon.
2. Red hot Bedard
Here’s a list of Sabres first rounders between 2015-2023 (a period you can reasonably assume will have provided the spine of the current team) that are on this season’s roster – Zach Benson (LW), Matthew Savoie (C), Noah Östlund (C), Jiří Kulich (C), Owen Power (D), Isak Rosén (RW), Jack Quinn (RW), Dylan Cozens (C), Ryan Johnson (D), Rasmus Dahlin (D), Casey Mittelstadt (C), Alex Nylander (LW), Jack Eichel (C). How many of those names are what we’ll call top tier, world class, elite hockey players?
I bring this up because just a few years after Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane led a dynasty that won three Stanley Cups for the Blackhawks, there’s a new superstar rising in Chi-Town. Connor Bedard, the 2023 NHL Draft first pick and 2024 Calder Trophy winner, is on a tear this season with 13 goals and 16 assists in 19 games (he had 23 goals and 44 assists in 82 games last season, and 22 goals and 39 assists in 68 games in his first year).
The Sabres did a really good job keeping Connor McDavid quiet a few nights ago, can they do the same with his namesake?
3. UPL = Sieve
For getting paid starter money, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has shown precious little over the last two seasons to convince anyone that he belongs in the NHL. He’s currently third in the pecking order of a three-headed goalie monster, behind a career journeyman and a waiver wire pick-up, which is not a good look.
In his last sixteen starts spanning this season and the last, here are the goals he’s given up (latest first) – 3, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3, 7, 3, 2, 3, 7, 2, 3, 6 & 5 for an average of 3.625 goals per game 😱. At this point, it feels like the only time the Sabres have a real chance of winning a game is if UPL somehow only lets in two goals.
Projected Lineups
Buffalo Sabres
Forwards
Josh Doan – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
Isak Rosen – Ryan McLeod – Jack Quinn
Jordan Greenway – Tyson Kozak – Peyton Krebs
Josh Dunne – Noah Ostlund – Beck Malenstyn
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin – Mattias Samuelsson
Bowen Byram – Conor Timmins
Owen Power – Jacob Bryson
Goalies: Alex Lyon, Ukko Pekka Luukkonen (confirmed starter)
Chicago Blackhawks
Forwards (11)
Ryan Greene – Connor Bedard – Tyler Bertuzzi
Oliver Moore – Frank Nazar – Teuvo Teravainen
Colton Dach – Ryan Donato – Ilya Mikheyev
Landon Slaggert – Sam Lafferty
Defense (7)
Alex Vlasic – Louis Crevier
Wyatt Kaiser – Artyom Levshunov
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Murphy
Sam Rinzel
Goalies: Arvid Soderblom (projected starter), Spencer Knight
