Sabres vs. Stars | How to watch, lineup news, and storylines

Lindy Ruff emphasized the importance of establishing home-ice advantage as the Buffalo Sabres enter their second-longest homestand of the season, a four-game run at KeyBank Center that opens against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.

“Really, it’s where a lot of teams feed off of,” the Sabres coach said. “We have to become one of those teams that feeds off the home ice and playing in your own building. So, one game at a time, but we know that this is an important stretch, for sure.”

The Sabres are 1-1-0 through two games at KeyBank Center but out-chanced their opponents (Los Angeles and Florida) by a combined margin of 77-47 in those games, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Their next test comes in the form of a Stars team that is 5-1-0 to start the season after making runs to the Western Conference Final in each of past two playoffs.

The puck drops at 7 p.m. Here’s everything you need to know in the meantime.

How to watch

TV (Buffalo broadcast market): MSG (Pregame coverage begins at 6:30 p.m.)

Streaming (out of market): ESPN+

Radio: WGR 550

Click here for more ways to watch Sabres games.

Lineup notes

Jordan Greenway will be back in the lineup after missing Saturday’s game in Chicago with a lower-body injury. He will replace Zach Benson, who did not skate this morning due to a lower-body injury he’s been nursing since the start of the season.

“Zach is still not right,” Ruff said. “He’s been nursing this now since Prague, watching his game. I had a long discussion with him this morning and I really feel – and now he feels the same way – that he’s being affected by what he’s dealing with and the best is we give him today.

“We’ve got four days to see if we can get him in a better place where it doesn’t affect his play. I give him a lot of credit for trying to play, but it has definitely affected his play. We’ve got to get him right.”

Nicolas Aube-Kubel joined the team on the ice this morning for the first time since he sustained a lower-body injury on opening night. Aube-Kubel could be ready for Saturday’s game against Detroit, Ruff said.

“I’m really impressed that he’s back and he’s going to get three or four good days,” Ruff said. “If he’s not ready by the weekend, he’ll be ready by mid-week. He was playing really well for us and he was part of that heavy piece down in our lineup that was providing the physicality that helped us win games.”

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is expected to start for the second straight game after making 35 saves in the win over the Blackhawks. Here’s the full projected lineup based on Monday’s practice (subject to change):

Storylines

1. McLeod’s streak

Ryan McLeod enters Tuesday on a four-game point streak, including goals in each of the Sabres’ past three games.

McLeod extended the streak with an empty-net goal in Chicago on Saturday. His presence on the ice in that situation – with the Sabres protecting a one-goal lead and the Blackhawks’ goalie pulled for an extra attacker – speaks to the defensive reliability that the Sabres sought when they acquired the 25-year-old center from Edmonton this past summer.

McLeod has indeed been used in a heavily defensive role alongside regular linemates Jordan Greenway and Jason Zucker, but he’s also shown his offseason objective to contribute more offensively. He buried a wrist shot through traffic for his first goal with the Sabres in Pittsburgh last Wednesday, then sped down the ice to connect on a 2-on-1 rush the following night in Columbus.

“Coming here I wanted to add that piece to my game,” McLeod said. “I think it’s coming still. It’s a confidence thing. Shoot more pucks, get to the net a little bit more. But happy that’s progressing. I think as a team we can get to the net more and get some more tip goals and stuff like that, so just getting a little bit more dirty is going to add to our offense, too.”

2. Settling into the season

The Sabres went 1-1-1 on their recent three-game road trip, which started with a back-and-forth game in Pittsburgh that featured four lead changes. The Sabres gave up a 3-1 lead, fought back to pull ahead in the third, then gave up the tying goal in the final minute of regulation.

Three nights later, the Sabres protected a one-goal lead to set the stage for McLeod’s empty-net goal and close out a victory in Chicago. That situational progression – be it protecting leads or playing from behind – is an area McLeod said he expects to grow in this early part of the season.

“It’s just kind of getting comfortable in those situations, playing with leads and even when you’re down, not throwing the kitchen sink out there and open up too much that you let them get that extra goal to put us away,” McLeod said. ‘I think just getting more comfortable in the season and just being confident that we belong out there and we can close those games out.”

3. Scouting the Stars

Dallas has started this season 5-1-0 on the strength of its defensive play, including an NHL-leading .953 save percentage from goaltender Jake Oettinger.

The Stars rank first in the league with an average of 1.50 goals allowed per game and a 95.2-percent success rate on the penalty kill (20-for-21). The unit has been anchored by Oettinger and defenseman Esa Lindell, who ranks third in the league in shorthanded ice time.

The Dallas offense, meanwhile, has received goals from nine different players, led by three each from Roope Hintz, Matt Duchene, and Jason Robertson.

McLeod, having played the Stars in last season’s Western Conference Final as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, said he expects a heavy game.

“It’s tough not to,” he said. “They play hard. They’re one of the elite teams in this league, so you’ve got to play them hard of they’re gonna do their thing.”