The Sabres will be looking for their second straight win as they host the Vancouver Canucks tonight at First Niagara Center.
Buffalo comes into the night with a 1-6-1 record over their first eight games of the season and will need to improve dramatically if they wish to climb out of the basement of the Atlantic Division. Lack of depth is something the Sabres have struggled with last year and are still struggling to maintain early in this season, however there is reason to believe that success for the bottom three lines is not far off. Drew Stafford, Tyler Ennis, Brian Flynn, Zemgus Girgensons and Marcus Foligno have all shown strokes of brilliance early in this season combining for eight points, all while playing on the bottom three lines.
The Sabres will be without forward Patrick Kaleta, who is currently in the process of appealing a ten game suspension. Yesterday it seemed unlikely that Girgensons would be able to return to the lineup tonight after taking a Tyler Myers slap shot to the face early in the game vs. the Islanders, however he was on the ice for this morning’s warm-ups sporting a full cage. It looks as if he will be sitting out for tonight’s game.
Cody Hodgson was not on the ice for the morning skate and could be questionable for tonight, however it is more than likely just another ‘maintenance’ break for Hodgson and should be in the lineup come 7 p.m. Miller, the first goalie off the ice at this morning’s skate will be the man in net for the Sabres, as expected.
The Vancouver Canucks come into town after beating the Flyers 3-2 in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening. Tonight will mark Zack Kassian’s return to Buffalo after being traded away at the 2011 deadline with Marc-Andre Gragnani for Alexander Sulzer and Cody Hodgson. The Canucks are looking to stay about the .500 mark as they come into Buffalo. They will face the daunting task of taking on a Buffalo team who is riled up after their win over the Islanders.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. EST. The game can be watched live on MSG or Bell-TV (Ontario) or listened to live on the radio at WGR 550.