Preview: Sabres vs Montreal

If the Buffalo Sabres are to put together consecutive victories and get going on a winning streak, they couldn’t have picked a harder time to do it.

After defeating Toronto in a shootout Wednesday the Sabres hope to win two in a row at the First Niagara Center tonight.  To do so, they’ll have to go through the best team in NHL right now.  The Montreal Canadiens have taken the ice seven times so far this season, and left with a victory in each of them.

Montreal invades Buffalo already 7-0 overall and 4-0 on the road with a slew of players off to sizzling starts.  Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec each have scored five goals already this season, while Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk have five assists apiece.  Defenseman Andrei Markov is a plus-10 while fellow blue liner P.K. Subban is a plus-nine.

It goes without saying Carey Price (1.00 goals against/.966 save percentage in six games) is one of, if not the best goaltender in the NHL, although the Sabres are catching a break with Mike Condon getting the start in net this evening.

Puck drop is at 7:00pm.... Here’s a few game notes:

Sabres Line Combos: At the game-night skate this morning Ryan O’Reilly was centering Evander Kane and Sam Reinhart on the top line.  Jack Eichel had Tyler Ennis and Brian Gionta on the wings, while Zegmus Girgensons centered Matt Moulson and Marcus Foligno.  Johan Larsson is flanked by Nicolas Deslauriers and Jamie McGinn on the fourth line.  Defensively it looks like Mark Pysyk will skate with Jack McCabe, Josh Gorges is with Risto Ristolainen and Mark Weber with Cody Franson.

Quick Starts: Montreal has scored the game’s first goal in six of seven starts and have led at the end of the first period five times.  Conversely Buffalo has scored first in just two of six games and have led after the first only once.

Rochester Call-Up: The Sabres shipped goaltender Nathan Liuwen to Rochester and called up Linus Ullmark.  He’ll back up Chad Johnson tonight but could see his first NHL start tomorrow night. The 22-year old Swede who underwent offseason surgery on both hips, is 1-2 with a 2.72 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage with Rochester.

Johnson is Hot: Speaking of the Sabres goalie, he’s been hot lately. Over his last four games, Johnson has stopped 70 of opponent’s last 73 shots while at even strength—a percentage of .959.

Logging Lots of Time: The Sabres are certainly getting plenty of bang for their buck with prized acquisitions Kane and O’Reilly, at least when it comes to being on the ice.  O’Reilly (21:32) ranks second in the NHL and Kane (21:09) third in average ice time per game.

Positive is Rare: The Sabres have just two players with a positive plus/minus rating early in the season--- young defensemen Jake McCabe and Mark Pysyk are both a plus-one.

Penalty Kill is Killing Sabres: The Sabres have killed off just 68.8% of opponent power plays so far this season, good for 28^th in the league.  Montreal is second in the NHL with a 91.7% success rate.

Power Play is Better: Buffalo has been much better on the power play, particularly at home where they’ve converted on four of 16 chances (7^th in the league).  Rasmus Ristolainen and O’Reilly lead the team with three points each while having the man advantage.

Old Faces, New Places: Montreal has a pair of former Sabres dealt to them last year in tonight’s lineup—forwards Brian Flynn and Torrey Mitchell. On Buffalo’s side Josh Gorges and captain Brian Gionta are former Canadiens.

Holding Their Own: The Sabres have held their own against Montreal of late; going 4-5-1 in their last 10 overalll and 5-3-2 at home.

Quotable: Sabres head coach Dan Blysma to reporters following their morning skate on playing Montreal: "We want to be the best; tonight we play the best-They're 7-0. We know they're a good team but we're going to try to beat them."

Up Next: The Sabres are right back in action at home tomorrow evening against the New Jersey Devils.  Tonight is the first of 15 Buffalo back-to-back affairs.