It’s no secret that the Sabres are hurting, and in more than one way. After Drew Stafford went down with an injury in the game against Minnesota on Thursday, the Sabres were running out of options to replace him.
Buffalo went ahead and claimed Zenon Konopka, who is expected to play tonight. Konopka tweeted: “Growing up 35 mins from the old Aud as a kid I dreamt of one day playing for the Sabres- I couldn’t be happier.”
Just when things started to get better and the team began to play well, the Sabres have been struggling yet again. They’ve dropped three of the past four games and are having a hard time scoring goals. They have one goal in the past two games and have been outscored 7-1 in those contests.
Tonight opens up a three game homestand and Buffalo will have those games spread out over eight nights, so fatigue should not be a factor.
The Devils took the first game earlier this season, a 1-0 overtime victory where former Sabre Steve Bernier won if for New Jersey. The two teams will meet on April 1st to conclude the season series.
The Devils sit at 10th place in the Eastern Conference, but are just two points behind Philadelphia for that eighth spot. The Devils are hoping they can help continue the Sabres scoring woes.
New Jersey is fresh off of a 5-3 loss to Chicago on Friday night. Patrick Sharp’s hat trick gave him 25 goals on the year and he helped the Blackhawks score four times in the third period to seal the victory.
Still, the Devils have picked up points in three of their past four games (2-1-1). It may not mean much, but New Jersey has won its’ past five Saturday games, starting with the win against Buffalo at the end of November.
The Sabres will try to keep the Devils’ leading scorer in check, but that will be no easy task. Jaromir Jagr leads the Devils with 34 points (13 goals, 21 assists) on the season.
Tonight’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST and can be seen on MSG.