The Buffalo Sabres knockoff an important four game home stand tonight against the NY Rangers. A win over the Rangers will move the Sabres back to the .500 mark and will move them one step closer to their goal of finishing in the top four teams in the Metro-+Buffalo+Boston Division. The top four teams from each division will earn a playoff berth this season. The Sabres have the goods offensively, defensively, and special teams to finish in the top four team in the division. The goaltending has been okay thus far in 2021. However, good enough is not enough. Sabres net minding needs to improve dramatically to give Eichel, Hall & Associates it's best opportunity to make a long playoff run later this season.
Tonight, the Sabres kickoff a stretch of six games against teams that are currently ahead of them in the division standings in the Rangers, Devils and Islanders.
I'm calling my shot now:
The Sabres will earn
8 of the next 12 points available to them. I feel confident that they will sweep the Rangers and split with the Devils and Isles.
Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju will not play tonight and is listed as day to day with a “very minor” injury that he sustained in Sunday's win over the Washington Capitals.
Jokiharju did not take the game day skate on Tuesday morning. He will be a game-time decision.
Seventh defenseman Matt Irwin will draw into the lineup if Jokiharju cannot answer the bell.
In another roster move, Kevyn Adams passed forward Casey Mittelstadt back to the taxi squad and recalled rookie winger Dylan Cozens to the Buffalo roster.
Cozens, 19, sat out Sunday afternoon’s 4-3 shootout win against the Capitals after he scored his first NHL goal against Washington rookie Vitek Vanacek on Friday night.
Cozens is situated back on the second line right wing with Eric Staal and Victor Olofsson.
With a victory tonight, the Sabres would have wins in consecutive matchups with the Rangers for the first time since they won three in a row from April 2, 2016 to January 3, 2017.
Feisty Finn defender Rasmus Ristolainen will play in his 500th NHL game tonight. Ristolainen will become the 31st player to appear in 500 games for the Sabres and the first to do so since Drew Stafford played his 500th game with the team on March 11, 2014 vs. Nashville.
Ristolainen recorded two assists in Sunday's win for his 36th career multi-point game. The Sabres are 25-5-6 in those games.
Ristolainen needs to score two goals to reach 45 career goals (T-8th in Sabres franchise history for defensemen).
Ristolainen’s first assist on Sunday at Washington moved him past Jim Schoenfeld for the seventh-most career points recorded by a Sabres defenseman. Risto now trails Bill Hajt by 14 points for sixth-most points scored by a Buffalo Sabres defenseman.
Ristolainen holds the franchise record for most OT goals by a defenseman (4) and is tied for ninth all-time among the team’s blueliners with six GWG.
Ristolainen’s career per-game output ranks him among the franchise’s top 15 defensemen in every major scoring category (minimum 82 games played):
.
09 G/GP (13th), .37 A/GP (12th), .46 PTS/GP (11th)
Despite his production and his consistent play this season, Ristolainen haters are still gonna hate and he doesn't even care.
***
Kyle Okposo has scored at a point-per-game pace in his last 21 games against the Rangers (5G,16A) dating back to December 20, 2013.
Eric Staal has scored 5G,6A in his eight games against the Rangers since the beginning of the 2016-17 season.
Taylor Hall has scored 6G,6A in 12 games against the Rangers dating back to the beginning of the 2015-16 season, including two four-point games during that span.
Colin Miller has five assists in his last six games against the Rangers.
**
Veteran goalie Carter Hutton skated Tuesday morning and will dress for tonight’s game against the New York Rangers. Linus Ullmark will be making his third straight start against Rangers tendy Alex Georgiev.
Hutton suffered a head injury last Tuesday in Philadelphia when Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov wiped him out with heavy contact after receiving a check from Sabres rear guard Brandon Montour. Hutton was forced to miss the third period of the game in Philly which the Sabres lost 3-0.
Still, Hutton stayed in the game. Stubbornness, he said, took over.
Hutton, 35, said Tuesday morning that knew he had to exit the game after absorbing heavy contact with his head. Hutton said he immediately felt uncomfortable and that he needed to shut it down for the night.
“I kind of had to make a mature decision at that point,” Hutton said. “Ten years ago, I probably wouldn’t have, but at this point, I knew it was best for me and the team to take that period off and get back to normal here.”
Taxi squad goalie Jonas Johansson replaced Hutton for the rest of the Sabres’ 3-0 loss to the Flyers. Johansson was dressed that night because Linus Ullmark's father had passed away unexpectedly earlier that day. Ullmark was given the night off for personal reasons. Hutton was forced to stay in Buffalo while the Sabres played Friday night and Sunday afternoon in Washington.
Ullmark became the 15th goaltender to appear in at least 100 regular-season games for the Sabres, and tied Robin Lehner for the 12th-most wins in franchise history (42). With his next win, he’ll tie Dave Dryden for 11th-most.
Ullmark stopped all three Washington shooters in the shootout. He is now 5-3 in his career in shootouts with an .844 SV% (27-for-32) that ranks fifth all-time among NHL goaltenders with at least 10 career shots faced.
***
According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Sabres rank near the top of the league at 5-on-5 in several underlying statistical categories that are typically predictive of success:
Corsi percentage: 53.7% (6th)
High-danger chance percentage: 64.2% (3rd)
Expected goals percentage: 57.7% (2nd)
Through their first six games, the Sabres have led their opponents at 5-on-5 in each of these categories in every game except when they were out-attempted 51-49 by the Flyers in Buffalo’s 6-1 win on January 18.
The Sabres have been the least-penalized team in the NHL at 4:10 penalty minutes per game.
The Sabres (+13) and the Rangers (+9) have the top two penalty differentials in the NHL.
Jake McCabe (9th, 60.1%) and Rasmus Ristolainen (26th, 57.4%) rank among the league’s top 30 defensemen in corsi percentage (min. 30 minutes played).
According to NaturalStatTrick.com, McCabe and Ristolainen have the 10th-best possession numbers among NHL pairs who have played at least 30 minutes together this season. They have a CF% of 58.6 percent when skating together during 5-on-5 play despite an offensive zone start rate (35.2%) that ranks as the 15th-toughest among the 96 qualifying pairs.
Entering play Monday, only Edmonton’s Ethan Bear and Darnell Nurse (8 GF) have been on the ice for more even strength goals as a pair than McCabe and Ristolainen’s seven goals.
**
Buffalo Sabres Real-Time Stats Leaders:
Hits: Ristolainen (25), Lazar (12), Miller (11)
Blocked Shots: Montour (9), Jokiharju (7), Eichel/McCabe/Rieder/Ristolainen (5)
Shots: Eichel (23), Dahlin (19), Hall (19)
**
Buffalo Sabres Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»