Well, Malcolm Subban’s first game as a Sabre couldn’t have gone much worse.
He allowed six goals on 24 shots, and to add injury to insult, he left the game with 10 minutes left with some sort of injury. The severity of his ailment is also unknown. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been recalled from the Rochester Americans as a result, per the Sabres. Should Luukkonen see game action for Buffalo, he will be the fifth goalie to play for the team this season. Let’s take a look at the next five opponents for the Sabres and see when he may get some playing time.
Anaheim Ducks – Tuesday, 7:30 pm (ESPN+, Hulu)
The Ducks are enjoying something of a surprising year as they currently sit at a 13-8-2 record which is good for third in the Pacific Division. The Ducks are getting good scoring from their elder statesmen. Ryan Getzlaf (1g, 19a), Adam Henrique (6g, 10a) and Kevin Shattenkirk (5 goals, 11 assists) are all having nice seasons, while the young guys have chipped in some nice numbers as well: Trevor Zegras (6 goals, 13 assists), Troy Terry (15 goals, 10 assists) and Sonny Milano (6 goals, 11 assists). Anaheim is also getting solid goaltending from John Gibson (.915 SV%) and Anthony Stolarz (.919 SV%) as further evidenced by the team’s +10 goal differential. The only noticeable disappointment on the roster looks to be Max Comtois, who only has 1 point in 13 games and is currently out following right hand surgery. This is another ESPN + and Hulu game, so plan accordingly.
New York Rangers – Friday, 7 pm (MSG-B)
The Rangers a curious team right now. The standings show a seriously impressive record of 16-4-3, but the underlying Corsi, Fenwick and expected goals charts all show sub-par numbers that make the Rangers a likely candidate for regression. What they do have right now is stellar goaltending from Igor Shesterkin who has a 13-3-2 record with a 2.05 GAA and a sterling .937 save percentage. Evolving-hockey.com calculates Shesterkin has a goals-above-replacement of 17.8, meaning he has made 18 more saves than a hypothetical replacement level goaltender, and they further credit him with a wins-above-replacement of 3.1, meaning he has earned them three wins by himself. That kind of terrific goaltending is the reason why the Rangers are doing as well as they are. The Sabres are mostly facing back-up goalies this year, so Alexandar Georgiev (.876 SV%) will probably get this one. This seems like a logical place to put UPL into the lineup because the next day, the Sabres play the…
Washington Capitals – Saturday, 7 pm (MSG-B)
Alex Ovechkin has not slowed down. The 36-year-old has a whopping 20 goals in 25 games, along with 19 assists for a total of 39 points. For those counting at home, that’s a 65-goal pace over an 82-game schedule. “Sure,” a cynic may say, “but he’s not actually going to score 65 goals this year.” Maybe, maybe not, but it looks like he’ll pass Jaromir Jagr by February as he only needs 16 more goals to move into third all-time in NHL scoring. Do not, under any circumstances, play UPL against Alex Ovechkin for his first game of the season. OV could hang a double hat trick on him. The Capitals have also played the entirety of the season so far without Ovechkin’s buddy, Nicklas Backstrom, who has been rehabbing a hip injury and was only recently cleared for contact. Reuniting OV with Backstom will make the Russian sniper even more dangerous. I’ll say it again: let Aaron Dell take this one, and even if the Capitals score four goals in the first period, keep Dell in there. UPL has no business being anywhere near this game.
Winnipeg Jets - Tuesday, 12/14 (MSG-B)
The Jets are just a solid team. None of the scoring stats look super impressive, the goaltending looks fine, and the defense is steady. As a team, the Jets are on the right side of the fancy stat Mendoza line, with the Corsi, Fenwick and shots numbers all looking pretty good. Winnipeg is currently in a dog fight in a loaded Central Division that has five teams within two points of each other, so while Winnipeg is in second place right now, Dallas and Colorado have played two fewer games and could leapfrog Winnipeg in an evening. As far as the roster goes, Josh Morrissey is showing that he is a bona fide first-pairing defender as evidenced by these pretty purple lines here.
One of the most interesting storylines right now is the center tandem of Mark Scheifele and Pierre Luc-Dubois. With 22 points, Dubois is out producing Scheifele (14 points) in less ice time, and Dubois’ fancy stats – especially the defensive ones – look considerably better than Scheifele’s. That Laine-for-Dubois trade looks really nice for the Jets right now.
New England Patriots – 12/6, 8:15 pm (ESPN, NFL Network, ABC)
Go Bills
Minnesota Wild – 12/16, 8 pm (MSG-B)
Old friend Marcus Foligno is having himself an excellent season with the Minnesota Wild. The Buffalo native and former Sabre has 10 goals and 6 assists with 46 PIMs through 24 games. Mats Zuccarello is still getting after it at age 34 with 18 points in 18 games, and Kirill Kaprizov is leading the way with 29 points in 25 games. The Wild have a firm grasp on the 1 seed in the excellent Central Division, as Bill Guerin has done a fine job remaking the team in his image. Cam Talbot is apparently their starting goalie and he’s put up a nice .915 SV% while backup Kaapo Kahkonen has a mediocre .895 SV% over 6 games. If the Sabres get Kahkonen, they may have a chance in this one.
The spots for possible wins in this section of five games will come from the Rangers and Ducks, while it’s likely the Sabres get stomped by the Capitals and the Wild. The Jets are easily the better team as well, so I’ll go with 2-3-0 over this stretch. The Schedule begins to cool off a bit later in December, but we’ll save those teams for later.
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