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| BUFFALO SABRES |
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14–24–7 (35 points; .389%) ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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7:00 P.M. – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH KEYBANK ARENA BUFFALO, NY |
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BALLY SPORTS OHIO ESPN+ (Out of Market) |
On the heels of an impressive 5-4 win over the Washington Capitals, the Columbus Blue Jackets will look to make it wins in four of their last five Thursday when they face the Buffalo Sabres.
The Blue Jackets have their offense to thank for their recent strong play, scoring 20 goals in their last four games. That ranks second in the NHL in scoring over the last two weeks. Patrik Laine has six of those goals, scoring twice in each of his last three games.
It's the Sabres first game on their own ice in nearly three weeks. They've been off since February 1st, when they concluded a four-game road trip with a 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. Thursday will be the second (and final) time they've hosted the Blue Jackets this season, with Columbus winning 7-4 in November. Jack Roslovic scored his first two goals of the season in that victory, his only multi-goal game of the season.
| CBJ | SEASON STATS | BUF |
|---|---|---|
| 3.14 | GOALS FOR | 2.56 |
| 3.68 | GOALS AGAINST | 3.47 |
| 16.2% | POWER PLAY | 19.4% |
| 79.9% | PENALTY KILL | 75.2% |
| 29.4 | SHOTS FOR | 29.0 |
| 35.4 | SHOTS AGAINST | 34.9 |
| 49.0% | FACEOFF WINS | 46.3% |
| PACES & PROJECTIONS | ||
| 43.7% | MONEYPUCK'S ODDS TO WIN | 56.3% |
| 49.0% | THE 538'S ODDS TO WIN | 51.0% |
| 80.1 | 82-GAME POINT PACE | 63.8 |
RE: BUFFALO
After a strong 5-1-1 start to the season, the Sabres have been what they were expected to be at the beginning of the season: a bottom-dwelling team in the midst of a total teardown. They've won consecutive games just once since that start and rank 29th in the league in points and point percentage.
One player likely to be with Buffalo for the duration of the rebuild is defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. The 21-year-old is in his fourth season and was named to the NHL All-Star team for the first time this season. Dahlin has seven goals and 21 assists this season, which puts him tied for the second on the Sabres in points (28) with Jeff Skinner (16g-12a-28p), and behind Tage Thompson (14g-16a-30p) by just two points.
STORYLINES
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DAMN, LAINE!
Laine had 10 goals with Columbus in 44 games of the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, his first with the Blue Jackets. He had already matched that total in 24 games this season, but added two more in Tuesday's win to give him a dozen goals and a dozen assists in a total of 25 games so far this season. Laine has scored two goals in each of his last three games, has four straight multi-point games. Can he do it again Thursday?
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TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A WEAK PK
Special teams were huge for the Blue Jackets in Tuesday's win — they connected on the power play twice and missed a third power play tally by just one second. With the power play seemingly in sync, the Blue Jackets go up against the 26th-ranked Sabres penalty kill. Columbus has not scored on the man-advantage in consecutive games since the first week of the season and should have multiple good chances to bring that streak to an end Thursday.
PROJECTED LINES*
| LW | C | RW | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | Patrik Laine | 38 | Boone Jenner | 14 | Gus Nyquist |
| 93 | Jakuv Voracek | 34 | Cole Sillinger | 28 | Oliver Bjorkstrand |
| 59 | Yegor Chinakhov | 7 | Sean Kuraly | 16 | Max Domi |
| 64 | Trey Fix-Wolansky | 96 | Jack Roslovic | 23 | Brendan Gaunce |
| LD | RD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Zach Werenski | 2 | Andrew Peeke |
| 44 | Vladislav Gavrikov | 27 | Adam Boqvist |
| 5 | Gavin Bayreuther | 46 | Dean Kukan |
| Starting Goalie | Backup | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 | Elvis Merzlikins | 70 | Joonas Korpisalo |
*SUBJECT TO CHANGE
