The Buffalo Sabres coaching staff is going to have to go back to the drawing board a bit ahead of Game 6, with Noah Ostlund expected to miss some time. The Sabres' forward returned in Game 3 from an injury at the end of March, but his return was short-lived as he left with an injury in the Sabres' 2-1 overtime loss in Game 5.
On Thursday, head coach Lindy Ruff was asked whether or not Josh Norris is the obvious replacement and he just steps into Ostlund's role, or do they take the opportunity to shuffle their lines some. He didn't commit one way or the other, but he also didn't dismiss the idea, which is interesting in itself.
"We can just put Norris back in his spot, or we can shuffle a little bit," Ruff said. "If you look at where the lines have been in the 5v5 play, all the lines have had great opportunities. Some lines have taken advantage of some, and some haven't. I don't think there's no hesistation with maybe flipping a piece around here and there."
Buffalo Sabres have plenty of options to give the Boston Bruins a different look in Game 6
Based on Ruff's comments, the Sabres aren't necessarily looking for drastic changes, but it looks like they could at least consider some changes before the game on Friday night. The top line of Peyton Krebs, Tage Thompson, and Alex Tuch has been productive and is probably not something the Sabres will look to change.
However, the second and third lines are a different story as the line of Jason Zucker, Ryan McLeod, and Jack Quinn hasn't been very productive this series. According to MoneyPuck, these three have the second-most minutes together in 5v5 situations but have the second-worst xGoals % of 43.9%.
The only line that has been worse is the line of Zach Benson, Josh Norris, and Josh Doan, with an xGoals % of 35.7%. When considering the struggles of these two lines in the first part of this series, there is no reason to go back to them.
Ahead of Game 6, the Sabres should look to move McLeod to center with Benson and Doan on either side and have Norris on a line with Zucker and Quinn. There is no guarantee it will work, but during the season, when Doan and McLeod were together with Alex Tuch, they had the best xGoals % of all the lines with 50 or more minutes of ice time at 64.3%.
The Buffalo Sabres have an extra day to prepare for a pivotal Game 6, where they will once again have a chance to secure the series win. This extra time will give the coaching staff plenty of time to figure out what the best lines are to send out there in such an important game.
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