The Buffalo Sabres return home for a St. Patrick’s Day contest against the St. Louis Blues in KeyBank Center. Buffalo is looking to use the luck of the Irish to end this end of season skid.
Season series:
This will be the second and final meeting between the Sabres and the Blues this season. Buffalo will need to play strong defense and get good chances if they hope to even up the season series and stop their seven-game losing streak.
“We’ve just got to continue to grind it out” -Phil Housley
Buffalo notes:
Buffalo is playing for pride in front of the home crowd, now all but statistically eliminated from playoff contention. Alexander Nylander will see more ice time tonight, continuing to try to show what he can do at the NHL level. Buffalo is also looking to see who will step up from their bottom three lines and establish a future on the team for themselves.
Buffalo will be without Marco Scandella and Jake McCabe due to upper body injuries for both players. Scott Wilson and Vladimir Sobotka are healthy scratches for this game as well. Carter Hutton will see the start between the pipes for Buffalo tonight.
St.Louis notes:
The Blues will be trying to make it two wins in a row, now just six points behind the Nashville Predators and only two points ahead of the Dallas Stars. Center Ryan O’Reilly will make his first return to Buffalo since being traded to the Blues last offseason.
“I don’t know what to really expect. I’ve been traded before. It helps a lot knowing it’s going to be weird to be in that building. But at the end of the day, it’s two points that we need and just focus on my game that way.” -Ryan O’Reilly
St. Louis will be without one of their top scorers in Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Carl Gunnarsson with upper body injuries as well. Jake Allen will get the start in net for the Blues.