The Buffalo Sabres are returning to the ice Saturday night against the Boston Bruins as they look to extend their win streak to eight games. They entered the Christmas Break with great momentum and need to continue to stack wins to make up for some of their struggles earlier in the season.
Unfortunately, this game is going to be a little tougher for them as they are going to be without their top defenseman, Rasmus Dahlin, against the Bruins. According to Matthew Fairburn with The Athletic, Dahlin had returned to Sweden to be with his fiancée and won't be back for this game. However, he will return in time for the upcoming road trip that begins on Monday.
Fairburn also reported the team would be calling up Ryan Johnson from Rochester before this game. However, he likely is a healthy scratch and the team will have Jacob Bryson active for this game with Bo Byram moving up to the top line with Mattias Samuelsson.
Buffalo Sabres have struggled without Rasmus Dahlin in the lineup
It is certainly tough to replace Dahlin and the Sabres struggled earlier in the season when he returned to Sweden to be with his fiancee. In the three games he missed, the Sabres were 0-3 and outscored 17-8.
The teams the Sabres played during that stretch need to be taken into account as it was the Carolina Hurricanes, Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche. While they can't take any opponent lightly, the Boston Bruins are struggling as they lost four straight heading into the break and not the same caliber of team like the Hurricanes or the Avalanche.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in net for the Buffalo Sabres against the Bruins
The other notable lineup change for this game is that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will be getting the start against the Boston Bruins. This will only be his second start since December 8th as Alex Lyon has been playing a majority of the games and been great in net.
Luukkonen did win his last start, which was against the New Jersey Devils and allowed only one goal. He also has done very well at home this season with a 4-1 record with a save percentage of .921 and a goals against average of only 1.97.
This could be a big game for Luukkonen as the Sabres want to end their three-goalie experiment and can do so at midnight tonight. A great performance by Luukkonen can prove to new general manager Jarmo Kekalainen that he should be the starter or provide an opportunity to help him maximize the return if he is the player that is traded.
It should be an interesting game with plenty of storylines to watch in the game tonight for the Buffalo Sabres with a start time of 7 PM.