Alex Tuch among 5 Buffalo Sabres to watch in preseason rematch with Red Wings

The Buffalo Sabres are coming off their first preseason loss of the season after losing 5-2 to the Detroit Red Wings. They will be playing the same team on Saturday but with almost an entirely different roster. The hope will be that they will have a better showing at home on Saturday afternoon.

When looking ahead to this game, these are five players in particular that fans should be watching closely. It starts with a player for the Buffalo Sabres making his preseason debut.

5 Buffalo Sabres to watch in the preseason game against the Detroit Red Wing

Alex Tuch

The Buffalo Sabres were cautious with Alex Tuch entering training camp as he was working to get past an injury. He has been able to return to practice and will now make his preseason debut Saturday afternoon against the Red Wings.

The biggest question for this game is which line Tuch plays on and this should give an indication of what it might look like during the regular season. It would make sense that he would play with Ryan McLeod and Jason Zucker, two players who had better than expected seasons last year.

After Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch is the most important forward the Sabres have and they are going to need him to deliver. Hopefully, he enters this game with little rust and will be ready to make an impact once the regular season begins.

Alex Lyon

After Alexander Georgiev struggled against the Detroit Red Wings, it will be Alex Lyon's chance to keep his strong performance going from his first preseason game. It could also be Lyon's final appearance in the preseason with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen back at practice, and the Sabres may elect to start him in the final two preseason games to get him ready for the regular season.

In his first preseason game, Lyon stopped 13 of the 14 shots he faced in two periods of work against the Blue Jackets. If Lyon puts together a similar performance, he should lock up the backup spot to Luukkonen and beat out Georgiev who had a strong start to training camp and preseason.

Radim Mrtka/Zac Jones

While the Sabres are getting Tuch and UPL closer to being available for the regular season, they are dealing with some injuries. One of the more notable ones is Mattias Samuelsson, who Lindy Ruff has already ruled out for this game with an upper body injury.

This is nothing new unfortunately for Samuelsson, who has never played more than 62 games in a season due to injuries. However, what it does is create an opportunity for some younger players or players on the roster bubble to get some extra ice time in this game.

The two players who I think likely could replace Samuelsson in this game is Radim Mrtka or Zac Jones. For Mrtka, he has put together a really impressive preseason for the team's first round pick this past June. He probably isn't going to do enough to earn a spot on the NHL roster but he has shown he can compete and the Sabres need to seriously consider having him begin the season in the AHL.

As for Zac Jones, he is fighting for a spot on the Sabres to begin the season. With a good game against the Red Wings, he could move past Jacob Bryson on the depth chart. He has certainly made an impression on Lindy Ruff, who was very complimentary of him at the beginning of the week.

Zach Benson

Zach Benson has a great opportunity ahead of him this year as the left wing on the top line with Tage Thompson. It isn't guaranteed that he will stay in that spot and he needs to produce if he wants to remain there.

It was a very small sample size but his preseason game this season was a great sign as he had a highlight reel pass that set up Tage Thompson for a goal. This game against the Red Wings is going to be another chance for him to prove to the coaching staff that he can be productive in this spot.

This will be Benson's third season in the NHL after playing in 146 games over the prior two seasons. He has yet to have a season with more than 30 points and the hope is that this season, with the spot he is in, he can double that production and get to over 60 points.