After an embarrassing loss and a dreadful road trip, the Sabres are finally back on home ice, and the fans will have a reason to be excited.
Former goaltender Dominik Hasek will be inducted into the Sabres Hall of Fame. The Dominator will be inducted prior to the game and the Sabres also announced that they will be retiring his number next season.
The Lightning are in town to close out a four game season series, where Tampa Bay have taken two of the first three, including one in overtime.
In all three games against the Lightning this season, the winning team has finished with three goals. There hasn’t been a ton of offense between the two teams, and goals are hard to come by in Buffalo.
Saying the Sabres have struggled is an understatement, but after head coach Ted Nolan becoming furious at his team during last game, there is still work to do.
Only nine games remain for Buffalo and all that’s left to do is try and play spoiler to teams looking to make the playoffs.
“It’s just one of those things (that) in order to rebuild and to retool, you rebuild and retool with the right people, and it’s never changed from 20 years ago to today,” Nolan said. “You need the right people with the right makeup with the right character with the right drive and ambition. You don’t just show up.”
The Lightning are coming off a 13-round shootout victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night. Sami Salo finally ended the game and helped give Tampa Bay a 3-2 win.
“We’ve got to be better than we were [Thursday] night going into Buffalo because they have obviously shown they haven’t mailed in the season,” Cooper said. “[The Sabres] are battling their butts off. They beat us a few weeks ago, so we have to be better than we were [Thursday] or it’s going to be tough in Buffalo.”
Tonight’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be seen on MSG.