@boosbuzzsabres
Game-2 of Buffalo's season-long five-game road trip is tonight in Las Vegas as the Sabres take on the Golden Knights for the second time in just over a week. Buffalo defeated the Golden Knights last Monday and can sweep the season series with a win tonight. Last year in their inaugural season Vegas won both games against the Sabres in overtime.
According to the Sabres twitter page this looks to be Buffalo's lineup for tonight's 10:30 pm ET matchup:
Conor Sheary-Jack Eichel-Sam Reinhart
Jeff Skinner-Casey Mittelstadt-Kyle Okposo
Vladimir Sobotka-Patrik Berglund-Tage Thompson
Zemgus Girgensons-Evan Rodrigues-Jason Pominville
Head coach Phil Housley didn't mess with a winning formula from the previous game as he kept all of his lines intact which includes Mittelstadt centering Skinner and Okposo.
The top four of defensemenRasmus Ristolainen-Marco Scandella and Rasmus Dahlin-Jake McCabe remain intact but the Sabres made room for a returning Zach Bogosian by sitting Casey Nelson.
Bogosian has been out since January and returns to the lineup after recovering from elective hip surgery. The 28 yr. old has had an injury-plagued career ever since playing an 81-game season in 2009-10 for the Atlanta Thrashers, the team that drafted him third-overall in 2008. In the five next five seasons playing for the Thrashers and the Winnipeg Jets after Atlanta moved there as well as his first partial season in Buffalo after getting traded, Bogosian played in 286 of a possible 376 game or 76%. The last three seasons things have gotten progressively worse as Bogosian played in 64, 56 and 18 games, respectively, beginning in 2015-16 for a total of 138 games or only 56% of a possible 246 games.
Despite his injury woes, Housley still has respect for the defenseman and showed that by naming him an associate captain and the coach said that respect is strong in the locker room. "The guys really like him and really respect him,” Housley told the gathered media. “That goes a long way. I like the job that he’s done with our younger guys, making them feel comfortable and part of our team. He’s a really good mentor.”
The right-handed Bogosian joins the left handed Nathan Beaulieu on Buffalo's third pairing. Buffalo heads into tonight's contest with a 3-2-0 record and is tied for ninth in the league with a 2.60 goals-against average which is well above their third-worst 3.39 GAA last season.
Goalie Carter Hutton had been playing fairly well in net before getting a day off against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night. Linus Ullmark got the start that night and with the help of his skaters, proceeded to pitch his first-ever NHL shutout in the 3-0 win. In a nod to a defined starter/backup hierarchy right now, Housley is said to be going back to Hutton in net tonight. The 32 yr. old is 2-2-0 this season with a 3.06 GAA and .912 Sv% so far on the season.
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