BUFFALO – Two motivated clubs will square off tonight at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
On one side of the ice is the Winnipeg Jets, who have lost four in a row amidst a difficult travel schedule that has seen them play at home just twice since November 10.
On the other, the Buffalo Sabres, who are 0-3-1 in their last four after falling to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday – a night when they held a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes.
“I think there are different times in the schedule when you go through some of these. I’m glad it’s happening now - not that I really want it to happen - but we’ve played good hockey and we just have to get back,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “We’ve been in a lot of these 1-1 games, tied games in the third period, where we’ve made mistakes that have turned the tide the other way. It’s about us being real responsible. We know how to play. When we play the right way without the puck, that’s usually when our success happens.”
Both clubs are also dealing with the injury bug. Winnipeg is still without Dylan Samberg and Nikolaj Ehlers, while Buffalo will be without captain Rasmus Dahlin (back spasms) in addition to Jordan Greenway and Mattias Samuelsson – both of whom wore non-contact jerseys at Buffalo’s morning skate.
The Jets will make a bit of a change on their back end, pairing Josh Morrissey with Neal Pionk and Haydn Fleury with Dylan DeMelo.
“Just to get a bit of a different feel,” said Arniel. “Sometimes it has to do with the competition we’re going against - without getting into too much - just wanted to get a flip here. Without Samberg, it kind of changes things a little bit.”
The rest of the Jets line-up is expected to look like the lines that Arniel ran in the third period in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to St. Louis, with Connor Hellebuyck getting his 21st start of the season.
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Namestnikov-Lambert-Perfetti
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Iafallo
Morrissey-Pionk
Fleury-DeMelo
Stanley-Heinola
Winnipeg has liked big chunks of their game – outside of the final results – over the past few games. Their first focus is on their play away from the puck, which will help neutralize some of the rush chances given up against Vegas, Dallas, and St. Louis.
The other aspect is speed and pace. Getting to speed can be a challenge in a gruelling schedule, but Arniel is confident his team can find a way.
“At the end of the day it’s give me what you’ve got,” said Arniel. “That means probably shorter shifts, but if we want to be a pressure team, we have to be fresh. We need everybody. If we only have two or three guys pressuring hard and the other guys aren’t, then it takes away from what we’re trying to accomplish.”
With the Jets not skating ahead of Wednesday’s flight to Buffalo, part of the morning skate looked a bit more practice-like. A couple extra drills were tossed in – on top of the usual morning skate work – as a way to get some extra touches.
With six goals in their four losses, the offence has been a bit tougher to come by – not for a lack of chances – though Kyle Connor believes the attack mentality that Winnipeg wants to have on its second-ranked power play can translate to five-on-five.
“When you’re going at five-on-five, you’re feeling good, and playing the right way, it’s easy to step over the boards and translate that,” said Connor. “It’s tough to turn it around sometimes when it’s not going the right way. It starts with our five-on-five mindset before power play, then usually it translates to better things.”
Like the rest of his teammates, Connor isn’t putting much stock in the fact the Sabres are winless in four. He looks at the names on the roster and knows Winnipeg needs to be prepared for what the Sabres are capable of.
“They play with a lot of skill. When they’re on, they’re tough to play against,” said Connor. “For us, it’s about us. It’s about us getting back to what we do best – moving our feet, checking well, and skating back to take away their time and space. We’re able to play with the puck a lot more when we’re playing that way and back checking real hard.”
Arniel and Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff go way back to their playing days. They were teammates with the Sabres from 1986 until 1989, then met up again in the International Hockey League in 1992 in San Diego.
They’ve coached together in Buffalo and New York, and will now be on opposite benches as Ruff reaches his 1,800th game as a head coach.
“It just means he’s really old,” laughed Arniel. “To get back here where it’s pretty much been his home for his hockey life, it’s great to see. I’m sorry he’ll have to give us the two points tonight but I’m glad he’s getting back in the saddle here.”
Puck drop is set or 6 pm CT.
