Here’s what you need to know before the Sabres’ game against Vegas tonight
By Chris Ryndak / Sabres.com
The Sabres are in Las Vegas tonight for a game against the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. Join us for the GMC Game Night pregame show on MSG starting at 9:30 p.m. ET. Faceoff on MSG and WGR 550 is scheduled for just after 10 with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.
Here’s what you need to know.
Tonight’s matchup
This is the second of two meetings between the Sabres and Golden Knights this season.
Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Vegas 4-2 in Buffalo on Oct. 8
This is the fourth game all-time between Buffalo and Vegas; Buffalo has a 1-0-2 series record.
The Sabres enter tonight’s game with a 6-0-1 record in their last seven road games against Pacific Division opponents, including wins in each of their last five and shutouts in each of their last three (Jan. 23 at Edmonton, Jan. 25 at Vancouver and Oct. 13 at Arizona).
With wins in each of their last five road games against the Western Conference, the Sabres are in the midst of their best Western Conference road stretch since Jan. 6 to Oct. 8, 2011 (5-0-0).
A win tonight would give Buffalo its first ever six-game winning streak against the Western/Campbell Conference. An overtime loss would give the Sabres their fifth road point streak of at least six games against the conference and the first since the team tied a franchise high with points in seven straight from Dec. 28, 2010 to Oct. 8, 2011 (6-0-1).
Tonight’s game is the second game of a five-game Pacific Division road trip that continues on Thursday at San Jose.
If he dresses, tonight will be Patrik Berglund’s 700th NHL game. He would become the 37th Swedish player to reach that milestone.
After stopping 35 shots when these teams last met, Carter Hutton is 2-0-0 against Vegas with a .957 save percentage and a 1.50 goals-against average.
The Sabres have four players who have registered at least a point per game against the Golden Knights: Jack Eichel (2 GP, 2+2), Jason Pominville (3 GP, 1+2), Kyle Okposo (2 GP, 0+2), Evan Rodrigues (1 GP, 0+1).
With three power-play goals in the first five games of the season, Conor Sheary has already topped his previous career high of two (2016-17 and 2017-18).
Monday’s practice
From the Ice Level Practice Report…
Zach Bogosian took another step toward his return to the lineup, practicing on a defense pair with Nathan Beaulieu. Bogosian has been out since Sept. 25 with a lower-body injury.
Housley did not rule the defenseman out for Buffalo’s game in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
“He’s getting close,” Housley said. “We’ll see what the trainers say after today’s practice. I haven’t spoken to them, but he looked really good again. We’ll know more tomorrow.”
A look back at Ullmark’s shutout
Sabres.com talked to Carter Hutton and goalie coach Andrew Allen about what they saw from Linus Ullmark on Saturday when the 25-year-old netminder recorded his first career shutout.
Seventeen days separated Ullmark’s final start of the preseason and his first of the regular season, the result of a strong four-game stretch from his goalie partner, Carter Hutton. Sabres coach Phil Housley praised the work Ullmark put in in the meantime, staying late and taking extra shots after practice.
The two areas Ullmark focused on to stay sharp: his feet and his eyes.
“The biggest thing we work on is footwork, so you feel like you’re confident on your edges,” Allen said. “That’s the biggest thing for a goaltender. Your base is your feet. If you feel like you’re confident and your sharp on your edges, then your natural instincts take over.
“We work a lot on footwork, and then we work a lot on tracking pucks, really watching pucks into their gloves, watching pucks to control rebounds. It keeps your eyes engaged, keeps your feet engaged. That’s the two biggest areas we’ve worked on.”
Ullmark’s demeanor was evident to Hutton when he skated to the bench during stoppages.
“I’ve played with a lot of different goalies,” Hutton said. “Some guys are talkative; some guys don’t talk. Other guys need different things. He’s pretty casual. Honestly, he’s pretty mature in there. It was good, we had some good convos, joked around a little bit. I think we kept it pretty light.”