Game 46 Preview & Open Thread: Sabers vs. Kraken

Game #46

Buffalo Sabres (14-21-5) at Seattle Kraken (26-10-3)

Puck Drop: 4:00 PM ET | Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA

TV: MSG-B, ESPN+

Know your opponent

Seattle Kraken

Record: 20-24-3 | 43 PTS

Last game: 4-2 win over Kings

Division Ranking: 6, Pacific Ocean

PP: 25th, 18.2% (24/132 ops) (Sabres: 27th, 17.7% (23/130 ops))

PK: 23rd, 76.6% (102/107 kills) (Sabre: 22nd, 77.3% (109/141 kills))

1. Stand up and be counted

Last week was humiliating. At least the Sabers should feel that way. And in a season where the locker room has been calling for the managers to step up and pull the team up in the standings, there hasn’t been anyone. Maybe a few people have at times, but not enough.

Out on the West Coast, away from the pressures at home, will we see some sort of unified response? The first period this afternoon will be telling I feel.

Losing Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (DTD) and Ryan McLeod (IR) will hurt. Got so excited for McLeod after that hattie last week.

2. Fear of the depths

What is it with us and expansion franchise? It feels like we’ve just been terrible every time we play these new teams, like the Vegas Golden Knights are a really well-built team, but getting beat by the Kraken and the Utah Hockey Club is downright insulting.

I had to look it up, but Seattle is 6-1-0 against the Sabres. They are a mediocre team and to be honest, so are we. We can’t strive for greatness when we can’t even beat teams around us in the standings.

Also, their special teams are about on par with ours. One way to win today would be to beat them in that department.

3. The trade deadline is approaching

General Manager Kevyn Adams will have a pretty good idea in exactly one week how he’s going to spend the next few weeks, and then how the upcoming summer is going to play out.

By the time we finish the four-game West Coast swing, we’ll either be even more firmly entrenched in the Eastern Conference basement or there will be one of those ‘Undertaker moments’. Odds are it won’t be the latter, but who knows what kind of team bonding and inspirational moments can sometimes be blown from the embers of a road trip.

Buffalo Sabres

Extenders

Jason Zucker – Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka – Dylan Cozens – Jack Quinn
Zach Benson – Peyton Krebs – Sam Lafferty
Beck Malenstyn – Tyler Kozak – Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Defense

Rasmus Dahlin – Bowen Byram
Owen Power – Henri Jokiharju
Mattias Samuelsson – Connor Clifton

Goalkeepers: Devon Levi (projected starter), James Reimer

Seattle Kraken

Extenders

Jaden Schwartz – Matty Beniers – Kaapo Kakko
Andre Burakovsky – Chandler Stephenson – Oliver Bjorkstrand
Jared McCann – Shane Wright – Eeli Tolvanen
Brandon Tanev – Mitchell Stephens – John Hayden

Defense

Vince Dunn – Adam Larsson
Ryker Evans – Brandon Montour
Jamie Oleksiak – Josh Mahura

Goalkeepers:

Joey Daccord (projected starter), Philipp Grubauer