Game Preview: Buffalo Sabres @ Pittsburgh Penguins 10/16/2024

It’s a hockey night in Pittsburgh!

Who: Buffalo Sabres (1-3-0, 2 points) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (2-2-0, 4 points)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

How to Watch: Nationally televised game on TNT and truTV, streaming on Max

Pens’ Path Ahead: The Carolina Hurricanes take a trip to Pittsburgh for a Friday night game, then the Pens hit the road for a Sunday afternoon (3pm start) against Winnipeg and stay out West to play Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver next week.

Opponent Track: The Sabres were able to get a big 5-2 win over Florida on Saturday in their last game, and they needed it! Buffalo started 0-3 with a combined score of 10-3 in two losses to New Jersey and one to LA.

Season Series: After tonight there won’t be another BUF/PIT game until the Pens make a visit to Buffalo on January 17th. The Pens return to Western New York one more time, late in the season on March 27th to close out the three-game series set.

Hidden Stat: The Penguins are 7-2-0 in their last nine games at PPG Paints Arena versus Buffalo (per Pens PR).

Getting to know the Sabres

Projected lines

FORWARDS

JJ Peterka - Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch

Zach Benson/ Jiri Kulich - Dylan Cozens - Jack Quinn

Jason Zucker - Ryan McLeod - Jordan Greenway

DEFENSEMEN

Rasmus Dahlin / Henri Jokiharju

Bowen Byram / Owen Power

Mattias Samuelsson / Connor Clifton

Goalies: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Devon Levi

Possible scratches: Jacob Bryson, Dennis Gilbert

IR: Nicolas Aube-Kubel

—Very interesting team building this summer in Buffalo, they brought in a ton of new fast forwards (doesn’t count McLeod who ranks highly as well) and dropped a lot of slow skaters from last season. We’ll see if it pays off or not, but very few teams are able to quickly change the dynamic of their roster as much as Buffalo has.

—Tonight’s forward lines could be different than projected based on Peterka’s status. He’s been out since suffering a concussion on Oct 5 but took in a full practice. The left side of the lineup will be dependent on his availability and it sounds possible he will be cleared to play tonight.

Player stats

(via hockeydb)

—It’ll be interesting to see what kind of season Thompson has. He emerged as a star in 2021-22 (38 goals, 68 points in 78 games), went full supernova in 2022-23 (47 goals, 94 points) then kinda came back to earth last season (27 goals, 56 points in 71 games). He might not be a 50ish goal, 90 point player forever, but the Sabres will need a little more than what they got out of him last season.

—Levi, just 22, is one of the best young goalie prospects out there but was up/down last season from the NHL to AHL in his first full season as a pro. As thin and weak as Canada’s goaltending is these days, Levi is a sneaky good candidate to at least make the roster for their 4 Nations and/or Olympics next year. He’s very skilled but still needs more seasoning and time to prove himself.

Sabres fighting each other

Skirmishes happen in hockey, but rarely so early in the season and involving a team’s captain going after a teammate like Buffalo saw on Monday.

From the Sabres website:

The skirmish that occurred between Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin and forward Peyton Krebs during Monday’s practice, Ruff said, is a byproduct of that intensity.

“It’s just boys will be boys,” Ruff said. “I think Dahls got bumped before and then he evened up the score. I wouldn’t read too much into that. We want competitive practices, so I think every now and then the emotions will run a little bit high, but that’s a good place to be.”

The scuffle ensued after Dahlin delivered a hip check on Krebs during a drill at LECOM Harborcenter. Krebs said he had caught Dahlin with a high stick while driving to the net earlier in the session. Both players chalked up the moment to the emotions of a competitive practice.

“That was really bad by me,” Dahlin said. “I shouldn’t have done that. But, yeah, it’s competitive out there, we want to push each other. So, it’s good to that extent.”

Added Krebs: “We like to practice hard. That’s been the motto this year and that’s what we’re doing. You try to practice like you play and that’s what we’re doing and on off-days we’re buddies.”

The Sabres’ physicality has translated to games to start this season. They lead the NHL with an average of 28.0 hits per 60 minutes, including six hits each from Dahlin and Krebs.

“The buy-in has been great,” Ruff said. “It’s not about leading the league in hits. It’s just about hitting at the right time. I think we’ve engaged physically where we’ve been able to slow the opposition up, and I think any time we can get in their way and slow them up, it’s a positive.”

If “boys will be boys” this reads a lot like the parents forcing youngster to kiss and make up and move on. It’ll be fascinating to see how that plays out.

And now for the Pens

Infographic courtesy of the Pittsburgh Penguins