Game Preview: Buffalo Sabers @ Pittsburgh Penguins October 16, 2024

WHO: Buffalo saber (1-3-0, 2 points) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (2-2-0, 4 points)

When: 7:00 p.m. ET

Here's how to watch: nationally televised game on TNT and truTV, streaming on Max

The path of the pens lies before us: The Carolina Hurricanes travel to Pittsburgh for a Friday night game, then the Pens hit the road against Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m. start) and stay out West to play Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver next week.

Enemy bar: The Sabers pulled out a big 5-2 win over Florida in their last game on Saturday, and they needed it! Buffalo started 0-3 and went 10-3 overall with two losses to New Jersey and one to LA.

Season series: After tonight, there will not be another BUF/PIT game until the Pens visit Buffalo on January 17th. The Pens return to Western New York at the end of the season on March 27 to complete the three-game series.

Hidden statistics: The Penguins are 7-2-0 in their last nine games at PPG Paints Arena against Buffalo (per Pens PR).

Get to know the Sabres

Projected lines

FORWARD

JJ Peterka – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch

Zach Benson/Jiri Kulich – Dylan Cozens – Jack Quinn

Jason Zucker – Ryan McLeod – Jordan Greenway

Brock Malenstyn – Peyton Krebs – Sam Lafferty

DEFENDER

Rasmus Dahlin / Henri Jokiharju

Bowen Byram / Owen Power

Mattias Samuelsson / Connor Clifton

Goalkeeper: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Devon Levi

Possible scratches: Jacob Bryson, Dennis Gilbert

IR: Nicolas Aube Kubel

—Very interesting team formation this summer in Buffalo, they brought in a lot of new fast forwards (not counting McLeod, who is also highly ranked) and dropped a lot of slow runners from last season. We'll see if it pays off or not, but very few teams are able to change the dynamics of their roster as quickly as Buffalo.

—Tonight's offensive lines could be different than projected based on Peterka's status. He has been sidelined since suffering a concussion on October 5, but has completed a full practice session. The left side of the lineup will depend on his availability and it seems possible he will be cleared to play tonight.

Player stats

(above hockeydb)

—It will be interesting to see what kind of season Thompson has. In the 2021/22 season he became a star (38 goals, 68 points in 78 games), in the 2022/23 season he became a supernova (47 goals, 94 points) and in the last season he came back to earth Facts back (27 goals, 56 points in 71). games). He may not be a 50-goal, 90-point player forever, but the Sabers will need a little more than they got from him last season.

—Levi, just 22, is one of the best young goalie prospects around, but had his ups and downs from the NHL to the AHL last season in his first full season as a professional. As poor and weak as Canada's goalies are these days, Levi is a secretly good candidate to at least make the squad for next year's 4 Nations and/or Olympics. He is very skilled, but still needs more seasoning and time to prove himself.

Sabers fight against each other

Skirmishes happen in hockey, but this early in the season it's rare to see a team's captain chasing down a teammate like what Buffalo experienced on Monday.

From the Sabers website:

The scuffle between Sabers captain Rasmus Dahlin and forward Peyton Krebs during Monday's practice, Ruff said, was a byproduct of that intensity.

“Boys will just be boys,” Ruff said. “I think Dahls got bumped once before and then he evened the score. I wouldn't read too much into that. We want competitive training, so I think emotions will run a little high at times, but this is a good place to be.”

The scuffle occurred after Dahlin performed a hip check for cancer during an exercise at the LECOM Harbor Center. Krebs said he caught Dahlin with a high stick as he drove to the net early in the session. Both players attributed this moment to the emotions of competitive training.

“That was really bad of me,” Dahlin said. “I shouldn't have done that. But yes, there is competition out there, we want to push each other. So in that sense it’s good.”

Krebs added: “We like to practice hard. That was the motto this year and that's what we're doing too. You try to practice how to play, and that’s what we do, and on days off we’re friends.”

The Sabres' physicality has been evident in games earlier this season. They lead the NHL with an average of 28.0 goals per 60 minutes, including six goals each from Dahlin and Krebs.

“The acceptance has been great,” Ruff said. “It’s not about leading the league in hits. It's just a matter of hitting it at the right moment. I think we committed physically and were able to slow the opponent down, and I think any time we can get in their way and slow them down, that's a positive.”

When “boys will be boys,” it reads more like the parents are forcing the little one to kiss, make up, and move on. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out.

And now to the pens

Infographic courtesy of the Pittsburgh Penguins

Projected lines

FORWARD

Anthony Beauvillier – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust

Michael Bunting – Evgeni Malkin – Rickard Rakell

Drew O'Connor – Lars Eller – Jesse Puljujarvi

Kevin Hayes – Cody Glass – Noel Acciari

DEFENDER

Matt Grzelcyk / Kris Letang

Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson

Ryan Graves/Ryan Shea

Goalkeeper: Tristan Jarry or Joel Blomqvist

Possible scratches: Jack St Ivany, Rutger McGroarty, Valtteri Puustinen

IR: Matt Nieto (knee surgery), Alex Nedeljkovic, Blake Lizotte, Vasily Ponomarev

– Yesterday was a day off, not a practice day, for the Pens, who returned home from a few days on the road.

—Over/under the next 2.5 days until McGroarty is assigned to the AHL? He was fine, but might as well play somewhere, and the rest of the lineup was encouraging. McGroarty's NHL career will continue sooner or later, but until someone else gets hurt or starts struggling, there isn't much room for him in the inn.

Sid 1,600

Can Sidney Crosby reach 1,600 career points tonight? History has it, Crosby is the active scoring leader against the Sabers with 82 points in 59 games (Malkin is second with 69 points in 53 games).

Stick to Pens PR with the following steps:

After recording an assist Saturday night in Toronto, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby enters tomorrow's contest just one point shy of becoming the 10th player in NHL history to score 1,600 points in the regular season. He wants to reach this milestone in the fifth fewest games:

Player GP to 1,600 points
Wayne Gretzky 667
Mario Lemieux 812
Marcel Dionne 1,164
Jaromir Jagr 1,274
Sidney Crosby 1,277*
Steve Yzerman 1,294
Joe Sakic 1,329
Mark Messier 1,332
Ron Francis 1,456
Gordie Howe 1,482

*Including today's game

If Crosby reaches 1,600 points, it will be the first time an NHL player has reached that milestone since Jaromir Jagr on October 6, 2011.