@boosbuzzsabres
Amongst the interesting notes heading into tonight's Buffalo Sabres/San Jose matchup at The Shark Tank in Northern California is that the Sharks will travel to Buffalo, NY for a game on Tuesday that will constitute a very long, 2,700 mile home-and-home series with the Sabres. As Buffalo ends their three-game California road-trip tonight and travels back home, the Sharks begin a five-game, East Coast trip in the Queen City against the Sabres and though it's not a life-altering schedule notation, it is fairly interesting in that it doesn't seem like typical NHL scheduling.
That said, all Sabre-eyes are on the Sharks tonight as Buffalo hits the SAP Center trying to make it two wins in a row after suffering their first regulation loss of the season at Anaheim on Wednesday. Buffalo followed up that 5-2 loss to the Ducks with a solid 3-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings the following night. The Ducks and Kings, as well as the Sharks, epitomize Western Conference style hockey in that they play a heavy game, with speed added, that makes it difficult on the opposition. Anaheim threw the Sabres off of their game with physical play after being in down 2-0 late in the first period and they pushed that strategy while on their way to scoring five unanswered goals in the victory.
The following night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Buffalo faced a similar situation as they went up 2-0 in the first period, but managed to get their third goal early in the second before the Kings got on their forecheck and laid the body on the Sabres. However, Buffalo withstood a furious second period where they were outshot 17-10 (with Los Angeles missing an additional 12 shot attempts) and a lopsided third where Los Angeles outshot Buffalo 19-7. The end result is all that matters as goalie Carter Hutton posted his second consecutive shutout after stopping 47 shots.
Despite two very different recent histories where the Sharks have made the playoffs in seven of the last eight seasons (with one Stanley Cup Finals appearance) while the Sabres have been absent from the post-season, Buffalo has played them tough. In the past five seasons, three of which resulted in last place finishes for Buffalo, the Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games against the Sharks and are 6-4-0 in their last 10 on the road.
San Jose started out the season 0-4-0 before turning it around and winning their last three games as they found the back of the net. In those four losses the Sharks scored a total of five goals while in their three wins they tinkled the twine for 13 goals. Former Sabre Evander Kane was suspended the first three games of the regular season for pushing a linesman in a preseason game, but he came back on October 8 to record a goal in a Sharks loss. Kane recorded the hat trick on Wednesday in a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes giving him six points (4+2) in four games.
Part of the Sharks success the past three games has been a lockdown penalty kill. San Jose stands fourth-overall on the kill (91.7%) and have not allowed a powerplay goal in their last three games (10/10) which includes a 4/4 performance against Carolina's league-leading powerplay.
It represents a huge challenge for the Sabres and one of their major weapons--the powerplay. Buffalo started out the season at an unsustainably high clip with the man advantage and have come back a bit, especially after the Ducks game. They had seven powerplay opportunities against a then top-10 Anaheim penalty kill but after scoring on the first one, they were shut out in the other six. Many feel that Anaheim's success in killing off penalties significantly bolstered their aggressive play to the point where they physically took control and never looked back. Which isn't such a far-fetched notion. After going 1/3 on the PP at Los Angeles and 2/10 overall in their last two games, Buffalo is converting at a 35.5% clip behind only Carolina and the Boston Bruins in that category.
Although there's no morning skate, with the way head coach Ralph Krueger has stuck with his lines and pairings one would assume that nothing will change in that area, especially with the Sabres coming off the win in Los Angeles. One might also assume that goalie Carter Hutton, he of two consecutive shutouts and a total of 127:06 consecutive shutout minutes, will be in net. Hutton was stout when needed against the Kings and turned away a franchise record 47 shots in his shutout.
The best part about the Buffalo's 6-1-1 start this season is that they're getting contributions from all of their players. Their skill players like Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner and Sam Reinhart are posting skill player-like numbers while Bufflao's grinding line of Johan Larsson, Zemgus Girgensons and Kyle Okposo have been the Sabres best and most consistent line while contributing as well. Casey Mittelstadt's line finally got off the schneid in Los Angeles and even out-of-place forward Vladimir Sobotka is contributing in his own way to the second line. And then there's Victor Olofsson who's a weapon on the powerplay as all six of his goals this season have come with the man advantage.
Krueger's defensive pairings have found chemistry with the Anaheim game being their only overall poor performance. Favorite whipping boys Marco Scandella and Rasmus Ristolainen have generally kept the torches and pitchforks in Sabreland at bay and the work of Henri Jokiharju (paired with Scandella) will make decisions on defense extremely difficult when Zach Bogosian and Brandon Montour return from injury.
Game time is 10:30 p.m
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