Buffalo Sabres PreGame Skate #58: Carolina Hurricanes

The Buffalo Sabres finally get their shot at playing the Carolina Hurricanes, in a game that is literally almost a month in the making.

Tonights game marks the Sabres 58th game of the season, playing tonight in the only NHL matchup due to last months blizzard-like conditions, forcing the original game to reschedule.

In post-Olympic play, it’ll be interesting to see what the players will be like that competed in Sochi the past few weeks, and also where Buffalo heads toward come March 5th.

But for now, Buffalo looks to Carolina to start fresh. Tonights game is the second of three meetings against the Hurricanes, hoping to snap a four-game losing streak to Carolina

Ryan Miller is expected to start tonight’s game, potentially leaving Jhonas Enroth to start against the Bruins when they come to town tomorrow night.

Buffalo now faces four games, three of which are at home, before the deadline approaches. Already terminating the contract of Linus Omark; a few weeks after Buffalo picked him up on December 19, giving up a sixth-round conditional pick; so it seems like Tim Murray is preparing himself for a hefty week and a half.

Currently, Buffalo rides a four game losing streak, being out scored 18-6 in that skid. That streak extends to 2-7-1 over the last 10 games. Harsh numbers that the organization is forced to deal with. Under Murray, the Sabres have only three wins since he took the reins back on January 9th. Those numbers make for a very interesting upcoming trade deadline.

Last game, back before the Olympic break, Buffalo traveled up to Ottawa, falling 3-2 to the Senators. Tyler Ennis and Drew Stafford scored the two goals for the blue and gold, and Jhonas Enroth made 33 saves on 36 shots from the Senators.

Some Sabres have been on some sort of hot streak, even though they have been on a two-week mini vacation.

Drew Stafford has points in his last seven games, creating a very strong stretch, his longest since 2011-2012. Cody Hodgson is also riding a streak against Carolina, scoring four goals in his last four games against the Canes.

Both Tyler Myers and Matt Moulson were lucky enough to have this extra time built into the season in order to heal without missing a large number of games. In the workouts that Buffalo has been participating in, both Myers and Moulson have been participating and working through any injury that might still be lingering.

Cody McCormick also seems to be ready to get back to action, having enough time to heal his upper body injury back from December 17th.

Which is in good timing since Matt Moulson is the leader of all Buffalo Sabres in points scored against the Canes with eight goals and twelve assists against.

The last time these two teams met, Buffalo fell to the Hurricanes 5-3, where former Sabre Andrej Sekera managed to score a goal and two assists in the win.

Just a reminder, tickets from the game back in January are still honored by the Sabres for tonights game. The roads are clear and there is no signs of blizzard like activity, so get on down to the First Niagara Center and go watch the Sabres reopen their season!

Where do you think players are going to go? Who is going to leave? Or who is going to commit to a rebuild?

Any questions? Shoot me a tweet or send us an email at sabrenoisemailbag@gmail.com!