Canucks in town for matinee matchup

⏰ 1 p.m.   ? MSG   ? WGR550

After a game that lacked any sort of defense on either end, the Sabres return home to host one of the surprise teams out of the gate, the Vancouver Canucks.

Season series: Tonight’s matchup is the first of two between these teams this season. They’ll meet again in Vancouver in January.

Buffalo notes: Getting closer to the quarter point in the season there are some bright points in the Sabres season so far. First, it looks like the Sabres have solidified a very good first line and one of the top 10 fourth lines in the NHL. The second being that this team has been trending up the past four games as well and looking to continue it’s solid play. The bad news?

The Sabres have given up far too many odd-man rushes, and continue to struggle to find secondary scoring outside of the top line. While the Sobotka-ERod-Reinhart line produce last game; the Sabres must find a way to get Mitts going if they’re going to continue their upward climb.

Vancouver notes: The Canucks are essentially going as far as Eriksson-Pettersson-Goldobin take them.  They’ve been the benefactor of a very high PDO this season and their record screams for a massive regression. However, Vancouver sits alone at the top of the Pacific right now and are coming off an eight goal game against the Bruins where both Horvat and Eriksson had two goals.

Starting goaltenders: Carter Hutton will likely make the start after the scheduled rest against Montreal where he came in the third and pitched a shutout in the third and in overtime. Markstrom will likely get the start for Vancouver. He’s sporting a well-below average SV% and is looking to rebound from his five goal outing against the Bruins.

Line Combos:

Offense

1st Line
2nd Line
3rd Line
4th Line

Defense

1st Pairing
2nd Pairing
3rd Pairing

Goaltenders

StarterBackup

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