Bright spots have been few and far between this season for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres.
The struggling teams will attempt to improve their standing at the other’s expense on Tuesday night when they meet in Buffalo, N.Y.
The Blue Jackets, who sit last in the Metropolitan Division, have dropped five of their last seven games (2-4-1) and are a dismal 3-8-3 on the road this season.
The Sabres aren’t singing a much better tune after being shut out in their last contest, a decision that served as their seventh loss in 10 games (3-6-1).
Buffalo failed to solve Karel Vejmelka in a 2-0 setback to Arizona on Saturday, five days after scoring four times against the Coyotes’ backup goaltender.
“We need to move forward as a team,” Buffalo’s Casey Mittelstadt said. “Let’s keep it going and … let’s keep doing the things that led to some of the chances.”
The Sabres aren’t converting those chances, however. Case in the point is their power play, which has made good on just twice in its last 29 opportunities.
On the bright side, forward Jack Quinn could make his return from a ruptured Achilles on Tuesday, Sabres coach Don Granato said Monday. Quinn, 22, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2020 draft, was injured while training in late June. He had 37 points (14 goals) last season in 75 games.
In Saturday’s loss, Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen misplayed the puck behind his net to give Clayton Keller essentially an empty-net goal in the first period. Luukkonen was saddled with his fourth straight loss and could be in line to lose playing time to rookie Devon Levi, who is 3-0-1 with a 1.71 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage in four December starts.
“Levi was good when he had to be — very, very good,” Granato said recently of the 21-year-old. “This is a guy, we all know, three, four weeks ago, everybody thought he couldn’t do it and he showed resilience.”
Whomever mans the net for the Sabres will need to keep a keen eye on Columbus’ Yegor Chinakhov, who has scored five times during his four-game goal streak. The former first-round pick extended that run by tallying in the second period of a 6-3 setback to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
Linemate Kirill Marchenko also scored to boost his season goal total to 10, three shy of injured captain Boone Jenner for the team lead. Jenner is expected to be sidelined approximately six weeks due to a fractured jaw.
The loss of Jenner isn’t just being felt in the scoring column, however. Jenner has won an impressive 55.9 percent of his faceoffs this season.
On Saturday, the ice appeared to be tilted because the Devils won 58.8 percent of their draws, much to the chagrin of Blue Jackets coach Pascal Vincent.
“We chased it all night,” Vincent said. “(The Devils are) an offensive team, good transition, their line of centers is one of the best in the league. (We were) 5-for-20 on faceoffs in the offensive zone. You’re chasing the puck, chasing the puck. Forty-one percent total for the game. It starts there.”
Rookie Adam Fantilli, the No. 3 overall pick of the 2023 draft, went 1-for-6 in the faceoff circle while Sean Kuraly was successful on three of 10 attempts.
–Field Level Media
