Buffalo Sabres at San Jose Sharks

·Tue Oct 27·7:30 PM PT·ESPN·San Jose, CA

By JR·2 min read

Sabres(4-4-3)

Sharks(6-5-1)

Tuesday 10/277:30 PM

TLDR: Buffalo keeps losing hockey games by 1 goal, and Tuesday it gets to try fixing that against a Sharks team that just finished a long trip out east and has holes of its own down the middle.

WED 10/28, WED OCT 28, 7:30 PM ESPN

Sabres

(4-4-3)

LLLWL

Sharks

(6-5-1)

LWWLL

The Buffalo Sabres (4-4-3) visit the San Jose Sharks (6-5-1) on Tuesday. Buffalo has lost 3 straight, 3 of its last 4 losses came by 1 goal, and it is missing centers Jiri Kulich and Sam Carrick. San Jose is home after a 5-game Eastern road swing but is without Igor Chernyshov and Alexander Wennberg, which leaves Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith carrying a reshuffled top line. The game likely turns on whose depth holds up in the 3rd period.

Buffalo Sabres

Close in nearly every loss: 3 of last 4 by 1 goal
Put up 5 goals in Toronto, so the offense can go
Several days of rest before the game
Down centers Kulich and Carrick
3 defensemen on injured reserve
Cross-country flight early in a 4-game road trip

San Jose Sharks

First home game after 5 straight on the road
Scored 14 goals across the last 3 games
Celebrini-Smith top line still intact
Chernyshov week-to-week, top line reshuffled
Wennberg out, which thins the center depth
Gave up 4 goals in the 3rd period in Boston

The Sabres are 4-4-3 and have lost 3 straight. The ugly part isn't really the record, it's how close they keep getting. Of the 4 losses in their last 5, 3 were 4-3 games: twice in Montreal and once in Washington. The 4th was a 3-1 home loss to Philadelphia, a night when the offense never showed up. The one win in that stretch was a 5-4 slugfest in Toronto. That's a team scoring enough to stay in games and not getting the saves or the late shift that wins them.

The center depth is also getting thinner. Jiri Kulich took a puck to the face in practice and went back to Buffalo for evaluation, so he missed the Washington game. One estimate puts his return around October 31, which would mean he misses this one too. Sam Carrick is on IR, so Lindy Ruff is down 2 centers. The blue line has its own problems, with Matt Grzelcyk, Conor Timmins and Jack Rathbone all on injured reserve. In net, Alex Lyon had a setback and has no timeline to return.

San Jose's injury list hits the top of the lineup. Igor Chernyshov got hurt against Ottawa and is week-to-week, which leaves a hole on Macklin Celebrini's wing. At morning skate in Boston, the Sharks moved Collin Graf up next to Celebrini and Will Smith. Alexander Wennberg, who had been centering minutes against other teams' top lines, has been out since leaving the 3-1 loss in Toronto. So Celebrini and Smith are carrying even more of the load than usual.

The Boston game sums up where San Jose is. The Sharks were tied 2-2 after 2 periods, then gave up 4 goals in the 3rd and lost 6-4 while getting outshot 35-25. Before that, a 6-2 win in Ottawa and a 4-3 win in Montreal showed the shorthanded group can still score. Every one of their last 5 was on the road, and the 6-5-1 Sharks finally get a home game at SAP Center after a long swing through the East.

Both teams get a couple of days off before puck drop at 7:30 PM PT. Buffalo has the tougher travel, flying across the country from Washington early in a 4-game road trip. San Jose gets a few days in its own building. The matchup to watch is simple: can a Sabres team without 2 centers keep Celebrini's line quiet, and can San Jose's thin forward group handle a 3rd period better than it did in Boston? For Buffalo, the question is whether a team losing by 1 goal every night finally gets the bounce.

Neither team is close to the top of anything right now. Buffalo sits near the bottom of the Atlantic, and San Jose is hovering around .500 in the West. Still, a Sabres team in a skid against a young Sharks group that has scored on the road is a fair hockey game. It should be decent entertainment as long as nobody expects a playoff atmosphere.

Buffalo Sabres at San Jose Sharks

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