Sabres After Dark: For The First Time In Nearly Two Years
The Buffalo Sabres get back to game action tonight against the Anaheim Ducks in Anahein, which starts at 10 pm, EST. It's the first game for Buffalo since Monday night's win at home against the defending Stanley Cup champion, Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tonight will be the first of four games on the west coast for the Sabres over the next week, as they will also play in Los Angeles (Sunday), San Jose (Tuesday), and Seattle (Thursday).
Believe it or not, tonight's game in Anaheim will be the Sabres first west coast road game in nearly two years. They spent the entire shortened 2020-2021 season playing games within their own realigned division.
The last game the Sabres played at a Western Conference team, in the west coast or mountain time zone, was in Arizona in February of 2020 against the Coyotes. The last game on the west coast was in December of 2019, against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Sabres enter tonight's game in Anaheim with a 4-1-1 record. Buffalo's only regulation loss was last Friday night against the Boston Bruins -- a game the Sabres outplayed Boston, just didn't finish their chances.
Leading the Sabres in points is Victor Olofsson, who has four goals and two assists through the first six games. Goaltenders Craig Anderson and Dustin Tokarski have combined for a save percentage neat .950 and a GAA of 1.70.
The Sabres have been giving a team effort across offence, defense and goaltending, which may show this isn't a fluke and the Sabres are actually not as bad as many predicted before the season began.
This will be Buffalo's tought test, however, even though the teams they're playing aren't the best in the NHL; it's still a tall order to take at least 5 of 8 possible points on this four-game road trip out west.