After a 3-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, the Buffalo Sabres reflected on their progress since last season. The team took an early 3-0 lead before holding off a late push from Vegas, maintaining their one-goal advantage for more than half the game.
The Sabres have now equaled their total number of wins from last season, with a record of 36-19-6. They currently hold second place in the Atlantic Division and will have an opportunity to surpass last year’s mark when they face the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Coach Lindy Ruff commented after Tuesday’s victory: “I think it’s been on-the-job training, really. We’ve been through a lot, we’ve learned a lot. I think the best way of learning is going through some hardship, and we went through some hardship. I look at a lot of situations last year that told us we had to be a better team, we had to have more composure.”
Through 61 games this season, Buffalo has shown improvement by playing with leads more often and defending those advantages more effectively compared to last year. Even in games where they are outplayed, they are finding ways to secure wins.
“It’s just all in the guys. We’ve been working hard and doing the right things, is really what it comes down to,” said goalie Alex Lyon. “It’s been awesome, but we’ve got still, realistically, a quarter of the season to go. So, it’s nice, now we have to buckle down and continue to find a sustainable way to play.”
On Thursday night, Buffalo will try for its first point against Pittsburgh this season; the Penguins won both previous matchups in regulation time. Pittsburgh will be without Sidney Crosby due to an Olympic injury.
For fans wishing to follow Thursday’s game, national television coverage will be available on ESPN and streaming can be accessed via the ESPN app. Radio broadcasts are provided by WGR 550 and through the Buffalo Sabres App.
At morning skate ahead of Thursday’s game, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was in net for Buffalo and is expected to start. In his two post-Olympic road games so far he has recorded two wins with a .955 save percentage while allowing only three goals.
Tyson Kozak is unavailable due to injury and is listed as day-to-day; Josh Dunne will take his spot in the lineup.
Some notable statistics for Buffalo include their record of 4-2-1 in nationally televised games this season and leading the league with nine players who have reached at least 30 points each. Since December 9th they have posted a record of 25-5-2—marking their best stretch over any 32-game span in franchise history—and join Colorado as one of only two teams with at least 25 wins over such a period this year.
Buffalo also ranks third in regulation wins across the league with thirty victories—a key tiebreaker if teams finish level on points.
Tage Thompson enters Thursday’s contest riding an eight-game point streak (five goals and four assists). His tally of 33 goals ties him for seventh most among NHL players this season; his even-strength goal total (28) ranks second behind Nathan MacKinnon (33).
Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin has accumulated 53 points (12 goals and 41 assists), which places him seventh among NHL defensemen. Mattias Samuelsson has been present for sixty-seven Sabres’ five-on-five goals—surpassed only by Colorado forwards MacKinnon and Martin Necas among all skaters league-wide.
Pittsburgh remains without captain Sidney Crosby following his lower-body injury during Canada’s Olympic quarterfinal against Czechia; he is expected out for several weeks yet. Without Crosby since returning from break, Pittsburgh has gone 2-1-1—including most recently losing by one goal in Boston on Tuesday night.
Evgeni Malkin leads active Penguins scorers with forty-seven points (thirteen goals plus thirty-four assists) across forty-five games played this year while Anthony Mantha—now in his first full Penguins campaign—is tracking toward career-best numbers with twenty-one goals and twenty-four assists so far.
With seventy-five points overall entering Thursday’s matchup versus Buffalo, Pittsburgh holds position for a first-round playoff series against the Islanders; Columbus (seventy points) and Washington (sixty-nine) remain close competitors within Metropolitan Division standings for postseason spots.
The Sabres lost both prior meetings against Pittsburgh this season: once by four-to-two margin away on November twenty-sixth then again five-to-two at home February fifth—the Penguins are currently alone as Eastern Conference opponents yet unscored upon by Buffalo during regular-season play.
