The Buffalo Sabres had a chance to end their 14-season playoff drought on Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators with a win. Unfortunately, they weren't able to do that and lost 4-1 after the Senators had two empty-net goals late to push the game out of reach.
Before the Sabres return home for the game on Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, they have one more road game on Saturday against the Washington Capitals. During practice on Friday, head coach Lindy Ruff made some notable changes to his lines as he tried to shake it up for a team that has gone 2-2-2 over the last six games.
When looking at who is expected to be on the ice for this game, these are three players on the Buffalo Sabres that are under the most pressure to deliver big performances against the Capitals.
Alex Lyon
For most of the season, Alex Lyon has been clearly the best goaltender the Buffalo Sabres have had on the roster. That title is not so clear entering the final games of the regular season, as Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been great while Lyon has struggled.
The coaching staff has recognized that, as Luukkonen has gotten the last three starts for Buffalo, it looks like he will get the night off after Lyon was in the starter's net during practice on Friday. For Lyon, he has a chance to get back into the discussion about who will be the starter for Game 1 of the playoffs, but he needs an excellent performance against the Capitals.
Over his past two games, Lyon has struggled with one regulation loss and one overtime loss while allowing a total of 10 goals during this stretch. These recent struggles are surprising as he won his previous five starts prior to these games and even had a shutout win against the San Jose Sharks.
Lyon has had an incredible season for the Buffalo Sabres and two games don't completely take that away but if he hopes to have a chance at starting in the playoffs, this is a must-win game for him.
Josh Norris
One of the big surprises from practice was that the Sabres decided to break up the Jason Zucker, Ryan McLeod, and Jack Quinn line. These three have been playing together almost exclusively since the Olympic break, and the coaching staff's decision to break them up is not because they haven't been effective.
In fact, it seems that they made the move to try to get Josh Norris going, who is in a significant slump. Over the last 13 games, Norris has only had one goal and three assists while still averaging close to 20 shifts a game.
During practice, the coaching staff had Norris at center with Alex Tuch and Jason Zucker on the wing for this new line. By putting Norris with two key veterans, it could hopefully break him out of the slump he is in, which would be a big boost for this offense going into the playoffs.
Tyson Kozak
The Buffalo Sabres lost a key part to their lineup against the New York Islanders when Sam Carrick suffered an arm injury at the beginning of the third period. He has really turned around the fourth line and the coaching staff is trying to figure out who is the best player to replace him.
In the first game since his injury, the Sabres went with Josh Dunne and the fourth line struggled against the Senators. It appears now that Tyson Kozak will get his chance to earn that spot in the lineup.
There are two areas in particular that Kozak can separate himself, and that is in the faceoff circle and on the penalty kill. On the season, Kozak has a faceoff win percentage of 49.6% and has just over 39 minutes of penalty kill time. Carrick was excellent in both of these, and if Kozak can deliver a similar performance, he has a good chance to finish the season at center on the fourth line.
It would be great for the Buffalo Sabres to return home knowing they are heading to the playoffs, and a win against the Capitals can secure that. These three players are the ones who can help deliver that for the Sabres.