@boosbuzzsabres
Buoyed by 5-0-1 start and a new lease on hockey life thanks to positive vibrations emanating from bench boss Ralph Krueger and his staff, the Buffalo Sabres are riding a pretty strong wave into California for a three-game swing. The first game on the docket has the surprising Sabres in Anaheim to take one the equally surprising Ducks at the Honda Center. Tomorrow Buffalo takes that short jaunt up I-5 to Los Angeles for a game against the Kings and they follow that up with a Saturday night game against the San Jose Sharks.
Anaheim is off to a strong start with a Pacific Division-leading 4-2-0 record borne of a strong defense backed by firm goaltending. The Ducks have a league best 1.67 goals-against average (T-BOS) with the goaltending duo of John Gibson and former Sabre Ryan Miller sporting a rather staunch .944 save percentage (10 goals on 179 shots against.)
That strong goals-against average, however, is unfortunately countered by a fourth-worst 2.17 goals/game (T-NJD, SJS) which includes a powerplay that is anything but. Anaheim heads into tonight's game as one of three teams (NJD, OTT) without a powerplay goal (0/14.) Going six games looks to have turned it into an issue, with Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins telling the local media yesterday, "We'll try anything right now."
Eakins is in his first season as Ducks head coach after spending four seasons as bench boss for their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. The last time he was head coach in the NHL was with the Edmonton Oilers taking over for Krueger who was relieved of his duties after only 48 games in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. The Oilers powerplay under Eakins finished 17th in the NHL in 2013-14 with a 17% conversion rate (46 goals/271 opportunities) and was 28th in the league (12.9%; 12/93) for the 31 games he coached the following season before he was fired.
“We’ve got the setups that we want,” Eakins said of his non-existent powerplay in Anaheim. “I think we could easily have two or three goals on it right now and it wouldn’t be a big deal right now.
“The bad plan is everybody gets crazy about it.”
What might be even crazier is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum where Buffalo is sporting the league's best powerplay. Through six games the Sabres have converted nine of 21 powerplay opportunities for a robust 42.9% conversion rate which has helped tie them with the Toronto Maple Leafs for fourth in the NHL in goals/game (4.00.) The Sabres and their powerplay will be up against a Ducks team that has not allowed a powerplay goal at home yet (5/5.)
Both Buffalo and Anaheim played in the Eastern time zone on Monday afternoon before boarding a flight to the west coast following their respective games. The Sabres defeated the Dallas Stars at home 4-0 while the Ducks lost 4-2 to the Boston Bruins to finish a four-game East Coast swing (2-2-0.)
No lineup changes are expected for Buffalo heading into tonight so these are the expected lines and pairings:
Victor Olofsson - Jack Eichel - Sam Reinhart
Jeff Skinner - Marcus Johansson - Vladimir Sobotka
Zemgus Girgensons - Johan Larsson - Kyle Okposo
Jimmy Vesey - Casey Mittelstadt - Evan Rodrigues
Jake McCabe - Rasmus Ristolainen
Colin Miller - Rasmus Dahlin
Marco Scandella - Henri Jokiharju
Krueger will name his starting goalie later in the evening.
Of note, the Sabres recalled forward Curtis Lazar from Rochester on Sunday and he's with the team on the trip. Forward Conor Sheary is now listed as day-to-day (upper body injury) and was skating with the club yesterday at the Honda Center.
Game time is 10 p.m.
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