The Buffalo Sabres only have two preseason games left, both against the Pittsburgh Penguins, to get ready for the regular season. The Sabres have shown a lot of good things to begin the preseason as they have won 3 of their first four games, winning both of their games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and splitting with the Detroit Red Wings.
When looking ahead to these last two games, there are a number of players to watch closely for different reasons, starting with one player taking the ice for the first time this season.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen entered training camp with an injury that kept him out of the first few practices. He has returned to practice and is set to make his preseason debut against the Penguins, and head coach Lindy Ruff said he expects him to play both games.
Luukkonen is one of the key pieces of the Sabres and will have a big say in whether they are successful or not. He is coming off a bad season where he had a save percentage of .887 and a goals against average of 3.20.
The Sabres are going to need him to get off to a fast start as he will be returning as their starter and bounce back to how he played the season before last year.
Tage Thompson
Tage Thompson is another one of those key players that the Buffalo Sabres are going to need for them to produce. The good news is that Thompson has gotten off to a tremendous start this preseason with three goals in the first two games.
Even early in training camp, Thompson was impressing teammates like Rasmus Dahlin with what he was doing in practice. The Sabres' top forward also talked about how he would love to break 50 goals this season, and if he keeps this pace, it will certainly be attainable.
Radim Mrtka
It has been a great first impression for the Buffalo Sabres first round pick as defenseman Radim Mrtka has played very well to begin the preseason. He has played so well that he has remained with the team after they sent 24 players down to the AHL.
It still seems like a long shot that Mrtka will remain with the team to begin the regular season, but he has at most two more opportunities to show he belongs. The Sabres are dealing with injuries on their blue line with Bowen Byram and Mattias Samuelsson both missing practice on Monday.
Mrtka has played in three of the first four preseason games, and the Sabres coaching staff has paired him with veteran defenseman like Bowen Byram and Owen Power. It wouldn't be surprising if they didn't pair him with Dahlin for this game or with Power and have Michael Kesselring play with Dahlin.
Ryan Johnson
Samuelsson's injury is described as week-to-week and if he does miss time into the season, then Ryan Johnson could be the player to step into the lineup for him. The former first-round pick has had a productive past few weeks and has pushed Jacob Bryson for that seventh-defenseman spot.
According to Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News, Johnson was paired with Connor Timmins during practice on Monday. This isn't necessarily a guarantee that Johnson will get the spot in the preseason, or even the regular season, but it feels like a pretty good indication.