The Buffalo Sabres (27-29-12) host the Columbus Blue Jackets (43-17-6) Saturday night in the second half of the home-and-home series.
On Friday, the Blue Jackets defeated the Sabres in Columbus after Boone Jenner netted his 14th goal of the season late in the 3rd period to give the CBJ a 4-3 lead. They hung on to win with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopping 29 shots while allowing three past. On the other side, Buffalo’s Robin Lehner saved 35 of the 39 shots he faced. Two of the Jackets’ four goals came on the power play.
INJURY REPORT
Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson will be out of the lineup again tonight with the leg injury he suffered last week. That means that T.J. Tynan will continue to play in his place. Tynan had a costly giveaway in Friday’s game as it immediately led to a Buffalo goal. Forwards Matt Calvert and Lukas Sedlak are also still out with oblique strains but both should be back within the next few weeks. Defenseman Ryan Murray is day-to-day with a lower body injury and expected to miss tonight’s game.
Buffalo is still missing wingers Kyle Okposo and William Carrier, as well as defenseman Dmitry Kulikov who missed Friday’s game with a upper body injury.
FRIDAY RECAP
After Friday’s loss, the Sabres enter Saturday’s game with a 9-13-1-1 all-time record against the Jackets, making Columbus the second most successful team historically against Buffalo. Their 41.7% points percentage against the CBJ is only beaten by the Edmonton Oilers with 40.4%.
The game on Friday was the first time that the two teams battled this season and it was surely a battle. The Sabres struck first, effectively ending Bobrovsky’s shutout streak early in the game. Buffalo’s defense, however, struggled to keep the aggressive Jackets out of their zone. That led to four goals for Columbus, something that they hadn’t done since Feb. 26 against the New York Rangers. Forward Sam Gagner scored a pretty slapshot goal to continue his hot streak of late, notching his fourth straight game with a point.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Sabres | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Blue Jackets | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
GOALTENDER DECISION
Backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo is expected to start tonight’s game after top cop Bobrovsky got the win yesterday. Korpi lost his last time out, facing the Ottawa Senators. He played well despite the loss, stopping 24 of 26 shots. On the season, the Finland-born netminder is 5-2 in his seven starts with a 91.5% save percentage. Although most would expect Bob to get the night off in a back-to-back, our own Steven Perkins discussed John Tortorella’s goaltender dilemma earlier this week. Resting Bobrovsky more as the season comes to an end is going to be key for the Jackets this year but can the Vezina-chasing Russian get too much rest? Well, you should read the article below. Just click on that link and read it. Really. Read it.
Related Story: Tortorella Should Not Rest Bobrovsky
PREDICTION
I’m going with the Jackets in this one. Their power play looked phenomenal last night and their constant aggression really paid off in the end for them. If they can keep putting up shots like they did last night, at least a few will have to go in the net. 2-1 Blue Jackets.