GDT: #81 - SABRES at BLUE JACKETS – FRI APR 10 @ 7:00 PM ET – MSG-B, BELL TV – WGR

[26CornerBlitz]

vs.

SABRES (23-49-8) AT BLUE JACKETS (40-35-5)

NHL.com Game Preview: Surging Blue Jackets host Sabres in home finale

[NHL]803992[/NHL]

Season series: The Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets have split their two games this season, with each winning on the road. The Blue Jackets have outshot the Sabres 87-53 in the two games. Forward Scott Hartnell leads all skaters with nine shots on goal.

Buffalo Sabres Digital Press Box Game Preview: 4/10/15 at CBJ

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 352)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 37 games
Josh Gorges (lower body, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 25 games
Evander Kane (shoulder, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 25 games
Zemgus Girgensons (lower body, Feb. 26; injured reserve) – 19 games
Chad Johnson (lower body, March 6) – 16 games
Jerry D’Amigo (upper body, March 23) – 8 games
Matt Hackett (undisclosed, March 30) – 5 games
Mike Weber (sports hernia, April 3) – 3 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
4/7: Assigned F Tim Schaller and G Andrey Makarov to Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, April 11: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at BLUE JACKETS
This is the third and final meeting between the Sabres and Blue Jackets this season.
Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Columbus, 4-2, in Columbus on Feb. 24
The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Blue Jackets; 3-4-1 in eight road games.
This is the 20th game all-time between Buffalo and Columbus; Buffalo has a 7-10-2 series record.
The Sabres are 3-4-1 on the road against the Blue Jackets all-time.

Here are the probable lineups:

SABRES

Matt Moulson - Johan Larsson - Tyler Ennis

Marcus Foligno - Mikhail Grigorenko - Brian Gionta

Cody Hodgson - Philip Varone - Zac Dalpe

Nicolas Deslauriers - Matt Ellis - Patrick Kaleta

Tyson Strachan - Zach Bogosian

Andrej Meszaros - Rasmus Ristolainen

Nikita Zadorov - Chad Ruhwedel

Anders Lindback

Matt Hackett

Scratched: None

Injured: Mike Weber (upper body), Jerry D'Amigo (facial surgery), Zemgus Girgensons (foot), Josh Gorges (lower body), Chad Johnson (lower body), Cody McCormick (blood clots), Evander Kane (shoulder), Andre Benoit (upper body)

BLUE JACKETS

Boone Jenner - Ryan Johansen - Cam Atkinson

Brandon Dubinsky - Artem Anisimov - Nick Foligno

Scott Hartnell - Alexander Wennberg - Marko Dano

Matt Calvert - Mark Letestu – Jeremy Morin

Jack Johnson - David Savard

Ryan Murray - Cody Goloubef

Fedor Tyutin - Dalton Prout

Sergei Bobrovsky

Curtis McElhinney

Scratched: Corey Tropp, Jared Boll, Kevin Connauton, Justin Falk

Injured: David Clarkson (oblique), Jack Skille (shoulder), Rene Bourque (back)

Status report: The Sabres recalled defenseman Chad Ruhwedel from Rochester of the American Hockey League for the second time this season. He had one assist and a plus-2 rating in two games in March for the Sabres… Tyutin returns after missing the past two games with an injury. He replaces Falk.

Who’s hot: Dubinsky has three goals and six assists in a six-game points streak. Columbus has scored 45 goals in the past 11 games… Meszaros has four goals and an assist in the past six games.

GAME NOTES PDF

PRESS CLIPS PDF

Click to read more...

 

[RiotAct]

The prize is within our grasp, boys!!!

 

[TehDoak]

Can we suspend Risto for violating some unnamed"team policy"

 

[couture23]

Hopefully by 7 tomorrow we can cheer for a win.

 

[SundherDome]

Do the right thing and give Bagnall two games.

 

[Cirris]

I am so sick of that word, "compete".

It reminds of those college buzzwords that people blurt out cause it's like the catch phrase of the season to make themselves sound important.

During the tech bubble it was "monetize".

Lately it's "empower".

 

[EichHart]

Exhibit A:

Nolan planning an elaborate strategy to beat the Jackets and attack their weaknesses in game 81.

 

[enthusiast]

imagine i made an effort post after the producers

 

[mikemcburn]

I am so sick of that word, "compete".

It reminds of those college buzzwords that people blurt out cause it's like the catch phrase of the season to make themselves sound imporant.

During the tech bubble it was "monetize ideas".

Lately it's "empower".

Only "lately" it's been "empower"??? Sheesh, where I'm from I coulda sworn "empower" has been the rave since the mid to late 80s. Empower youth, empower women, empower the homeless, empower the under-employed, unemployed, and unemployable. It's almost as well worn a word as "space".

In these parts there ain't no public sector business with a stakeholder presentation circulating that doesn't have the word "space" liberally splattered throughout the pages. There are no more "industries", "markets", "segments", etc. It's all "space". Such a good "space" to invest in... oh boy. Very spacey stuff.

Oops, k, what was the topic again? Right, compete.... very spacey.

 

[Fulton44*]

Will Tyson Strachan be in the lineup? Thanks.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

The Blue Jackets hope to tie a franchise record in their final game at Nationwide Arena in the 2014-15 season, looking to extend their points streak to 12 games when they host the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night. The Jackets have won five straight on home ice, while the Sabres own the worst record in the NHL. That includes the worst road record, only earning 21 of a possible 80 points this season.

It’s been a challenging season for the Sabres on the ice, their goal differential currently at minus-109. They have 54 points in the standings and 15 wins in regulation or overtime, which are actually both higher totals than they achieved last year with two games still left to play.

 

[Ness]

This will be such a travesty if the Sabres win this game. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near FNC on Saturday for "Fan appreciation night" if Buffalo beats CBJ.

 

[Reddawg]

This will be such a travesty if the Sabres win this game. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near FNC on Saturday for "Fan appreciation night" if Buffalo beats CBJ.

Truth. Tonight is must lose. If we win, Saturday will be absolutely unbearable on so many levels.

 

[Hasek]

I hope the jackets bend us over a barrel and show us the 50 states.

 

[Reddawg]

I hope the jackets bend us over a barrel and show us the 50 states.

I don't think that's actually a thing people say.

 

[Bps21*]

I hope it becomes something that people say.

 

[dotcommunism]

Will Tyson Strachan be in the lineup? Thanks.

Yes. The Sabres only had six healthy defensemen last game, although there's going to be a call-up from Rochester tomorrow, that's apparently to replace Benoit who wasn't in practice today. Strachan's going to play barring some exceptional circumstance (which, really, is a standard that can apply to any player for any given game)

 

[Reddawg]

I wish everyone found it so acceptable for teams in the basement with nothing to play for to rest starters. The Rangers can put their three best guys on the bench and get shutout by the Senators, but everyone would cry bloody murder if we sat Ristolainen, Ennis and Lindback down for a game's worth of "maintenance".

 

[Bps21*]

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers pulled their starters the last game of the season to lock in last place and no one talked about it.

We sneeze and our own newspaper cries for us to be punished

 

[dotcommunism]

I wish everyone found it so acceptable for teams in the basement with nothing to play for to rest starters. The Rangers can put their three best guys on the bench and get shutout by the Senators, but everyone would cry bloody murder if we sat Ristolainen, Ennis and Lindback down for a game's worth of "maintenance".

The Sabres literally could not just sit all of Ristolainen, Ennis and Lindback even if they wanted to. The Sabres have no healthy scratches, at the moment, and only have one regular recall remaining. Any other play brought up from the AHL must be on emergency recall. For an emergency recall to be made there must actually be a legitimate reason (such as injury or illness or personal reasons) for a player to not be available.

Because of the number of players the Sabres moved at the deadline, along with their desire to keep players eligible to be sent back down to the AHL, there's no way for them to healthy scratch multiple players

 

[Reddawg]

I'm comfortable with made up maladies that result in a short bench against Columbus.

 

[Clock]

As always, there's a tank thread for pure tanking talk. Use it for that instead of the GDT, please.

 

[Barrasso]

Just lose. That is all.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

 

[ZeroPT*]

If Columbus could just dismantle the team from the start that'd be great thanks