Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas – Championship Sunday
The Buffalo Sabres (26-19-3, 55 points, 4th Atlantic) are on the road Saturday with a visit to Minnesota to face the Minnesota Wild (26-17-4, 56 points 3rd Central). Buffalo defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Thursday night with Tage Thompson scoring one goal and adding one assist. The victory was Buffalo's 5th straight. Minnesota defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in overtime on Thursday with Matt Zuccarello scoring the winning goal. The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for Minnesota. Buffalo will play without Ben Bishop, while Dylan Cozens is day to day and Mattias Samuelsson is questionable. Minnesota does not have any players listed on its injury report
Buffalo is scoring an average of 3.79 goals per game which is the highest in the NHL. The Sabres are taking an average of 32.5 shots per game which is 12th. Buffalo’s power play is scoring 25.7% of the time the Sabres have the man advantage which is sixth best. Tage Thompson is the leading goal scorer for Buffalo with 34, while Alex Tuch and Victor Olofsson each have scored 23. Rasmus Dahlin is the leader in assists with 41. Thompson has a team best 68 points and Dahlin is second with 54. Buffalo has scored 44 goals on the power play in 48 games.
Buffalo's weakness is at its own end of the ice as the Sabres are allowing an average of 3.38 goals per game which is 23rd in the NHL. Buffalo is allowing an average of 32.8 shots per game which is 25th. Buffalo's penalty kill unit successfully holds opponents sco reless 73.8% of the time the Sabres are short-handed which is only 27th. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is 13-5-1 with a 3.29 goals against average and .899 save percentage in 19 appearances between the pipes.