Sabres/Canes Preview

Lopsided losses to Chicago and Anaheim over the past days decisively confirmed that the Buffalo Sabres are not ready to play with the elite teams of the NHL. Tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, we’ll get truer indication if the Sabres are as epically awful as the perception current stands.

The 0-3 Sabres are in Carolina tonight for a skate against the 0-2 Hurricanes that despite the season being less than a week old, could be a tone-setter in the race for the league’s worst record. It’s the first of three meetings this season between the clubs.

It doesn’t get much worse for Buffalo than their first three games---at least not assuming the objective is winning or at least looking viable in losing.  The Sabres have been outscored, 14-4 and given up an average of 43.7 shots per game in three repulsive defeats.

It’s been so bad for Buffalo that head coach Ted Nolan is already noticeably perturbed with the efforts of his team, and didn’t mince words with the media after being shellacked, 5-1 by Anaheim yesterday.

“Sometimes if you’ve got nothing good to say it’s better not to say too much,” he said Monday. “Especially after an outing like this…it was like a NHL team playing against a pee wee team.”

Prior to last season the Sabres had never started a campaign 0-3.  They’ve now done it twice in a row.

It’s been speculated they’ll be changes to the lineup tonight in Carolina, and it begins with a pair of offseason free agent defensive pickups who’ve been catastrophic through three outings.  Andre Benoit and Andrej Meszaros are already a combine minus-10 and have drawn 10 penalty minutes.  As a result, Tyson Strachan will make his Sabres debut in place of Meszaros.  For now, Benoit remains.

Nolan made it clear Monday that no one’s spot in the lineup is any longer safe.

“Don’t confuse my patience with avoidance,” he said. “Never do that. It’s very frustrating to, say the least.  We’ll sort this out and find out who actually really wants to play. If we have to play two lines and four defense—so be it.”

This morning’s tone with Nolan wasn’t better.  Appearing on WGR he told host Howard Simon "Sometimes it just looks like certain players don't care. ...It's not just one or two guys. It's a handful."

It appears winger Cody Hodgson will go back to center.  Nolan likes Hodgson better on the wing, but no one is getting him the puck.  He’s been held scoreless and has generated just one shot on goal though three games.  Hodgson will center Marcus Foligno and Chris Stewart.  Wanting to reduce rookie Sam Reinhart’s workload, Nolan is “demoting” Reinhart to the fourth line to play with Cody McCormick and Nicolas Deslauriers.

The trio of Tyler Ennis, Drew Stafford and Matt Moulson will remain intact while Zegmus Girgensons will skate with Brian Gionta and Torrey Mitchell.

Defensemen Mark Pysk practiced with the Sabres but isn’t ready to play. He’s been out with an upper body injury in a preseason game on September 23^rd.

Things haven’t been that much better for Carolina in opening the season with consecutive losses to the New York Islanders—a fact that doesn’t make Sabres fans happy as Buffalo owns New York’s 2015 first-round pick.  To make matters worse Carolina is without two of their best forwards; Eric Stall and Patrick Dwyer are out with injuries.

Jiri Tlusty is off to a good start for the Canes with three goals and an assist in two games.  A pair of former Sabres figure prominently in their lineup—defensemen Andrej Sekera (two assists) and Nathan Gerbe (one goal).

Cam Ward is expected to get the start in net for Carolina. Jhonas Enroth is back between the pipes for Buffalo after Michael Neuvirth got the nod Monday against Anaheim.