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Buffalo Sabres Face Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues

By Melissa Kania

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The Buffalo Sabres face the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday looking to end a three-game losing streak. Tuesday night’s game will be the first of a two-game road stand that will cap off in Minnesota on Thursday before the Sabres return home for a trio of games at the First Niagara Center.

The Buffalo Sabres enter Tuesday night’s game on the heels of a 6-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. They’ll need to rebound quickly for tonight’s game, which is the third game in four nights for the Sabres. Not exactly an easy schedule, particularly for a team that’s already struggling, but here we are.

After Jhonas Enroth‘s 33-save performance on Saturday, it seems like tonight will once again be Michal Neuvirth‘s turn to step up, as head coach Ted Nolan said on Monday that he’ll be getting the start in net against the Blues.

Facing Neuvirth on the other end will be Brian Elliott between the pipes for the Blues. Elliott has a 5-3-1 record this season, with a .923 save percentage and 2.06 GAA. He also has one shutout on the year.

One new thing for Buffalo Sabres fans in tonight’s game will be the movement of winger Drew Stafford to center. Nolan clearly wants to switch things up, and why not? If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, but if it is….. why not try something new? Realistically, what’s the worst that could happen?

A couple of other players could return to the lineup tonight for the Buffalo Sabres, as both Marcus Foligno and Patrick Kaleta have been given the green light to return to action. It seems likely that Foligno will be back in, since the team reassigned Johan Larsson to the Rochester Americans, but the situation surrounding Kaleta is a little more uncertain. Will Nolan decide to throw him into the mix, or hold out?

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    • Tuesday’s game is the first of two meetings between the Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues this season. After tonight’s game, the Blues will visit the Sabres at First Niagara Center on February 5 and that will be it for the season series (unless, of course, the two teams meet in the Stanley Cup Finals…. wishful thinking?)

    Last season, the teams faced each other twice, with St. Louis winning the first game by a 4-1 margin and the second by a score of 2-1.

    The St. Louis Blues enter tonight’s game with a record of 9-4-1 and 19 points on the season, sitting fifth overall in the Western Conference. They’ve got a plus-seven goal differential and are 7-3-0 in their last ten games. The Blues are coming off a 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Saturday and will look to nip a win over the Sabres before hosting the Predators on Thursday.

    Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres sit last in the Eastern Conference with a record of 3-11-2 and eight points, one shy of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Sabres are 2-6-2 in their last ten and have an NHL-worst minus-34 goal differential. Can they break out of the three-game slump with a win over the Blues on Tuesday?

    Players to watch for the Sabres include Drew Stafford, who has two goals in the last three games and leads the team overall with eight points in 16 games this season, and Tyler Ennis, who has a team-high four goals on the year. Chris Stewart has emerged as the top shooter for the Buffalo Sabres so far this season with 40 shots on goal in 16 games. Finally, Tyler Myers continues to play big minutes and provide a presence on the blueline for the struggling Sabres.

    For the Blues, the player to watch is absolutely right winger Vladimir Tarasenko. Tarasenko’s averaging more than a point per game, with a team-high 17 points in 14 games this season. He has nine goals, including three power play goals and two game-winners. Tarasenko also has a team-high 56 shots and is a plus-11 on the season. And of course, no one can forget the fact that he’s had not one, but two, highlight-reel goals lately.

    Other than that, left winger Jaden Schwartz has 12 points in 14 games this season, and center Jori Lehtera has 11 points in 13 games. Also keep an eye out for former Sabres captain Steve Ott, who has a team-high 15 penalty minutes with the Blues.

    Don’t forget, tonight’s game is an 8 p.m. puck drop. Will the Sabres pull out a victory, or extend their losing streak to four games?

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