Sabres at Jets preview

SABRES (10-21-9) at JETS (23-11-7)
8 p.m. ET; TSN3, MSG-B, NHL.TV

The Jets are 3-0-1 in their past four games and 5-1-2 in their past eight. They're coming off a 3-2 overtime loss at the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck will start. He is 5-0-2 with 13 goals allowed and two shutouts in his past seven starts.
Buffalo lost 6-2 at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. The Sabres are 0-1-1 in their past two games and 4-6-5 since Dec. 1. Goaltender Chad Johnson is expected to start after Robin Lehner played against the Wild.

Players to watch

Sabers center Jack Eichel has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his past eight games. He's tied with forward Evander Kane for the team lead in points with 35.
Jets forward Blake Wheeler has four goals and two assists during a four-game point streak.

They said it

"It's just frustrating right now. It's not from lack of preparation and trying. Guys are caring, and we're all preparing and we're all trying. Things are just going our way. It's frustrating, but we've got to turn this over pretty quickly because we're facing an even more offensive club." -- Sabres defenseman Nathan Beaulieu
"They've got size and speed and can beat you off the rush. They've got the best faceoff man in the league (Ryan O'Reilly at 61.3 percent). They play a focused game defensively, in terms of what they're trying to do. They're not letting you out of the corner easily, there's not a lot of looping. They're trying to play that hard, defined game." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice

Sabres projected lineup

Zemgus Girgensons -- Jack Eichel -- Sam Reinhart
Evander Kane -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Kyle Okposo
Benoit Pouliot -- Evan Rodrigues -- Jason Pominville
Johan Larsson -- Jacob Josefson -- Jordan Nolan
Marco Scandella -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Jake McCabe -- Zach Bogosian
Nathan Beaulieu -- Justin Falk
Chad Johnson
Robin Lehner
Scratched:Scott Wilson, Josh Gorges
Injured: Victor Antipin (illness)

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor
-- Blake Wheeler -- Patrik Laine
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Bryan Little -- Mathieu Perreault
Andrew Copp -- Adam Lowry -- Joel Armia
Shawn Matthias -- Matt Hendricks -- Marko Dano
Josh Morrissey -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot -- Dustin Byfuglien
Dmitry Kulikov -- Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck
Steve Mason
Scratched:Marko Dano, Jack Roslovic, Tucker Poolman
Injured:Toby Enstrom (lower body), Mark Scheifele (upper body), Brandon Tanev (lower body)

Status report

The Sabres did not hold a morning skate. … Enstrom practiced fully with the Jets on Thursday but will not play. Coach Paul Maurice said he could return Sunday against the San Jose Sharks.

Stat pack

O'Reilly has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past five games. Reinhart has two goals in his past two games. … Laine has five assists during a three-game point streak.