Game 27: Winnipeg Jets vs Buffalo Sabres pre-game report

Tonight’s game is a battle of two teams that are battling losing streaks as Winnipeg’s hit four games with their most recent anemic loss on Tuesday to the Blues by a final score of 4-1 while Buffalo’s is more modest at a two game slide but they did lose their last game 5-4. It was a game in which they were winning 4-1 after 40 minutes and then gave up four in the 3rd to lose the contest.

Despite the fact that the Jets have lost five of their last six and sit 3-7-0 in their last ten games because of how well they started the season (15-1-0) they are still comfortable amongst the leaders in the NHL although the gap has now significantly decreased or as is the case with the Wild now been overcome and they trail Minnesota by two points.

But this game is all about trying to get back on track. Winnipeg has gotten away from what they did to make them successful and we shall see if they can return to playing fast and structured this evening in Buffalo. We expect Brad Lambert to stick in the lineup for his second consecutive game although where he plays is anyone’s guess. We will keep the lines how they were to start last game although given the fact Mark Scheifele took 15 faceoffs against St. Louis it seems likely he’ll return to centre if whatever was ailing him is no longer hampering him to the same degree as it was before.

The Sabres are sitting 5th in the Atlantic Division just three points back of a Wild Card spot with an 11-12-2 record. They have gone 6-7-1 at home. They sport the 29th ranked power play and the 15th ranked penalty kill.

Skate news:

Some D pair changes and a return to normal for the forward lines as per Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press.

Jets projected lines & D pairs:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Namestnikov-Lambert-Perfetti
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Iafallo
Gustafsson

Morrissey-Pionk
Fleury-DeMelo
Stanley-Heinola

Hellebuyck
Comrie

Sabres projected lines & D pairs:

Zucker – Thompson – Tuch
Benson – Cozenss – Peterka
Kulich – McLeod – Quinn
Malenstyn – Krebs – Aube-Kubel

_______* – Byram
Power – Jokiharju
Bryson – Clifton

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Levi

These are the lines as per Daily Faceoff.

*As per Sabres reporter Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News defenceman Rasmus Dahlin wasn’t on the ice for morning skate as he left their game against the Avs with back spasms.

The team didn’t do line rushes so we’ll have to see what they look like tonight at warm-up.

Up Next:

Puck drop is at 6 PM CST.  Be sure to head over to illegalcurve.com following the game for a recap of the action. You can join us on our YouTube channel for the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show around 8:40 PM CST as we discuss and analyze the results of the game.