Game Preview | 5 things to know ahead of Sabres vs. Islanders 

Eric Comrie is set to make his season debut in goal Saturday as the Buffalo Sabres take on the New York Islanders at KeyBank Center at 7 p.m.

Comrie will make his first appearance after Devon Levi started each of the Sabres' first four games.

"You’re always excited to get out there and get into a game. I mean, that’s what you practice so hard for, that’s why you work so hard in the summer is to get into the game," Comrie said. "I’m just super excited to get my first action tonight.”

While waiting for his name to be called, Comrie has focused on putting extra work in to remain ready for game play.

"I just try and do as much work as I possibly can to stay ready, stay sharp, and I think that’s all you can really do is just stay as mentally ready as you can, stay as sharp as you can on the ice," he said. "I’ve got to control my controllables and hopefully the results will take care of themselves.”

Sabres coach Don Granato shared he liked what he saw from Comrie during the preseason.

"Eric, he keeps himself very, very ready to play, prepares very well," Granato said. "Even in the preseason, he works so hard he looked normal to me then."

Last March, the goaltender earned a 2-0 shutout over the Islanders as the Sabres made a run to try to clinch a playoff berth. He finished the season with a 5-1-1 record in his last seven games.

As Comrie looks forward to getting back on the ice Saturday night, he tries to remember what Canadian hockey coach Fred Brathwaite once told him.

"If you’re ever worried about, nervous about anything, just go back to playing pond hockey as a kid outside and just having fun and enjoying that. That’s why you play the game, because you enjoy it. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t enjoy it. When you’re having fun out there, that’s when you’re playing your best," Comrie said.

Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on MSG/MSG+. The puck drops at 7 on MSG and WGR 550.

Tickets are available here.

Here’s what you need to know before Saturday’s game.

1. Back in black and red

The Sabres will wear their goathead third jerseys for the first time this season for Back in Black and Red Night.

The first 10,000 fans in attendance will receive a black and red rally towel. Lucky row giveaways throughout the night will feature merchandise and other signed items.

For more information, click here.

2. Injury update

Levi and Zach Benson returned to the ice for the morning skate but are not expected to be in the lineup Saturday, Granato announced.

Both players missed Friday’s practice and are dealing with soreness.

“I think both their ailments here, they could probably play through, but they’re not going to be 100 percent,” Granato said. “And for us, then the question is, why do that to them when you know there’s going to be a benefit of them being able to just take a breath for a game.”

3. The lineup

Buffalo practiced with a new look Friday as Granato shuffled the forward lines in an effort to help the team play to its identity. Granato turned to the lines that the Sabres ended the 2022-23 season with while Tage Thompson was dealing with an injury.

“They were the lines that we kind of finished the year with last year. Kind of the last seven, eight games when Thompson was having a nagging injury,” Granato said. “We put Cozens with him, Mittelstadt with Tuch and Skinner, and they were good a year ago. So, for me, I went back to some familiarity with all of us – with the players themselves, with us as coaches. And we absolutely need to get out of our heads a little bit and just play. We did not look and play the style we have played to our identity yet this year.”

Here's how the group lined up on Friday:

Forwards

53 Jeff Skinner – 37 Casey Mittelstadt – 89 Alex Tuch

12 Jordan Greenway – 72 Tage Thompson – 24 Dylan Cozens

77 JJ Peterka – 17 Tyson Jost – 71 Victor Olofsson

28 Zemgus Girgensons – 19 Peyton Krebs – 21 Kyle Okposo

Defensemen

26 Rasmus Dahlin – 23 Mattias Samuelsson

25 Owen Power – 10 Henri Jokiharju

75 Connor Clifton – 6 Erik Johnson

Goalies

31 Eric Comrie

1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

4. On the kill

The Sabres rank fifth among all NHL teams in penalty-kill percentage (93.8) after successfully killing 15 of the 16 power plays they have faced this season.

Granato believes the shift in focus to the penalty kill has allowed the group to find success in that area of play.

Defensemen Erik Johnson currently leads all Sabres skaters in shorthanded ice time (14:44).

5. Scouting the Islanders

In the last meeting between the two teams, the Islanders defeated the Sabres 3-2 at UBS Arena behind goals from Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri, and Casey Cizikas on Oct. 14.

New York enters Saturday’s game with a 2-0-1 record after losing in overtime to the New Jersey Devils on Friday.

Nelson and Palmieri lead the Islanders with four points each in three games.