Following last night’s 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, the Buffalo Sabres head to British Columbia to close out their season series with the Vancouver Canucks. The teams face off this evening for a 10 p.m. EST puck drop, with pregame beginning at 9:30 pm on MSG-Buffalo.
Tonight’s game is the second and final meeting between the Sabres and Canucks this season.
Last night’s game saw Jack Eichel put Buffalo up first on a beauty of a backhand, but that wasn’t enough for the Sabres to seal a win.
Teddy Purcell, Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall all scored for the Oilers in the first period to help the team to its third consecutive victory.
Ryan O’Reilly added a power-play goal midway through the second period, but Luke Gazdic would add his own goal a few minutes later, and ultimately the Sabres fell 4-2 despite outshooting the Oilers 34-28.
Heading into Monday’s game, the Sabres are 1-1-1 in the month of December.
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Tyler Ennis remains out of the lineup, having missed the last six games with an upper-body injury. Also out: defenseman Mark Pysyk, who’s missed the last nine games with a bone bruise; Mike Weber, out with a knee injury (13 games), Robin Lehner with his high-ankle sprain and Cody McCormick, who has yet to play this year.
The Sabres do have an extra forward for this road trip, after pulling Cal O’Reilly – Ryan’s brother – from the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Could we see him slot into the lineup tonight, perhaps in place of a struggling Johan Larsson?
The Sabres and Canucks have met once this season, exactly a month ago. Buffalo topped Vancouver 3-2 thanks to goals from Rasmus Ristolainen (2) and Jamie McGinn. Ristolainen’s second of the night came with just 17 seconds to play, sealing a late victory for the Sabres and a heartbreaking loss for the Canucks.
Henrik Sedin and Chris Higgins tallied for Vancouver, while Ryan Miller stopped 19 of 22 shots faced. Linus Ullmark had 35 saves in the win.
Daniel Sedin leads the Canucks with 12 goals and 29 points in 28 games this season, while his brother leads the team with 18 assists. Jannik Hansen is third overall with 16 points (8-8), while defenseman Alexander Edler has registered 14 points this season.
O’Reilly leads the Sabres with 22 points, while his nine goals are tied with Eichel for the team lead. Ristolainen leads Buffalo with 14 assists. McGinn has 12 points on the season, while Matt Moulson and Cody Franson have each registered 11 points.
Heading into Monday’s game, the Sabres are 7th in the Atlantic Division with 25 points and a record of 11-13-3, just two points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canucks are fifth in the Pacific Division with a record of 9-11-8 and 26 points, two points ahead of Edmonton and four ahead of Calgary.
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After tonight’s game, the Sabres are off until Thursday, when they’ll close out their Western Canada road trip with a bout against the Calgary Flames (9 pm).