The Buffalo Sabres continue their trek through Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest with games on back-to-back nights in the province of Alberta, taking on the Calgary Flames on Monday night and the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. The Sabres poor performance on the road is the primary reason why they are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with 26 points (11-13-4), as losses to Philadelphia and Winnipeg have them at 2-8-2.
Following the 4-1 loss to the Jets on Friday, an exasperated Lindy Ruff contemplated changing up his forward units with players like Tage Thompson, and Alex Tuch struggling to get on track.
“We’ve got one even-strength goal (in the) last six periods of play. You’re not going to win any road game if you don’t score five-on-five.” Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said after the loss to Winnipeg on Friday. “(Our top guys) have to produce. It might be just time to shakeup the lines and try to get something going.”
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At practice on Sunday, Thompson was shifted back to the middle between Jordan Greenway and Tuch, Josh Norris was shifted to the second line with Zach Benson and Josh Doan, the third line of Jason Zucker, Ryan McLeod and Jack Quinn remained intact, and Tyson Kozak was inserted back in the lineup on the fourth line with Beck Malenstyn and Peyton Krebs.
The Sabres find themselves in the all-too-familar place of being well behind in the race for a playoff spot in December. After Sunday’s results, Buffalo is seven points behind third place Montreal in the Atlantic Division, and eight points in back of New York and Pittsburgh for the two Eastern Conference wildcard spots.
Ruff indicated prior to heading out on the road that the club would likely send down a forward in favor of having an extra defenseman, and on Sunday, the club demoted center Noah Ostlund and recalled defenseman Zach Metsa. Ostlund began to show some of his offensive tools during this call-up, which is not a coincidence since this was the first time he played in an elevated spot in the lineup.
The 21-year-old likely will earn a longer look later in the season, especially if Ruff decides to play Thompson on the wing, injuries cause a vacancy, or someone is potentially traded.
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