Following a dismal 5-0 shutout to the New Jersey Devils, the Sabres are back at it in the State of Hockey as Minnesota hosts Buffalo at 8 pm eastern. While not officially confirmed, Lindy Ruff previously said that Josh Norris would make his season debut this weekend, so there’s a good chance that the center will have the opportunity to play his first full game of the season.
It goes without saying that a team coming off a 5-0 loss could use a boost on the offensive side of the puck. Here’s how the forward lines have looked at practice in the past week since Norris began practicing:
This is arguably the most optimal use of their available forwards as it makes the team deep at center while still concentrating enough of their available talent into the top-9. The left wing role on each line is pretty clear: their job is to dig pucks off the wall and find their shooting center in the slot. We’ll see if it works.
On the bad news front, Mattias Samuelsson is in concussion protocol after receiving an elbow to the head against New Jersey last night. Talk about bad luck; Samuelsson has been one of the lone bright spots this year and now he may be sidelined.
In net it’ll be either Colten Ellis or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen who hope to fair better than Alex Lyon did last night. It appears Lindy Ruff may be nearing the end of his patience on the three goalie rotation based on his comments last night.
“I’ve always said (the three goalie rotation) is not an easy process to go through,” Ruff said after the game. “It’s not easy for them, it’s not easy for myself, but it is – and was – based on the fact that we had a goaltender that we didn’t know if he was going to be healthy or not and we were trying to protect ourselves.”
Tonight’s choice of goaltender could go a long way in predicting how this saga will finally end. If UPL is in the net and he gets the win, it’ll be a lot easier to say goodbye to Ellis.
