Advertisement

Carolina Hurricanes @ Buffalo Sabres: Lineups, Game Preview and How to Watch

What - Game 45 (26-15-3)
When - 6 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 15
Where - KeyBank Center; Buffalo, NY
How to Watch - TNT, truTV, MAX, TVAS


The Carolina Hurricanes will take on the Buffalo Sabres (16-22-5) for the first time this season tonight at KeyBank Center.

The Canes are coming off of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, but have points in three straight games.

The team is still trying to find a consistent pulse, but January has definitely been a better month for the team.

On the other hand, you have the Sabres who yet again are in a season mired by disappointment.

Buffalo is coming off of a 6-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday and have lost four of their last six.

It seems that nothing really can go right for the Sabres who have struggled to consistently generate offense, but they have found a bit more success in that regard as of late.

Carolina, and TBH mostly Sebastian Aho, has completely owned the Sabres in recent memory, so we'll see if that's still the case tonight.


Streaks

  • Andrei Svechnikov (3g, 2a) has points in five straight games.

Milestone Watch

  • Brent Burns is three points shy of 900 career points.

  • Jack Roslovic is three goals shy of 100 career goals.

  • Jordan Staal is two points shy of 700 career points.

Game Notes

  • Carolina is 91-98-18-7 all-time against Buffalo including going 2-0-1 against the Sabres last season.

  • In fact, the Canes are 16-2-1 in the team's last 19 meetings dating back to the 2016-17 season.

  • William Carrier, Tyson Jost, Eric Robinson and Dustin Tokarski are all former Sabres.

  • Sebastian Aho (15g, 28pts in 19gp), Martin Necas (4g, 11pts in 10gp) and Andrei Svechnikov (2g, 13pts in 11gp) are all point-per-game players against the Sabres.


Key Matchups

Starting Goalies

  • Pyotr Kochetkov: 16-9-2; 0.901 Sv%; 2.54 GAA

  • Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: 13-13-4; 0.896 Sv%; 3.02 GAA

Leading Scorers

  • Goals - Jack Roslovic (17) / Tage Thompson (19)

  • Points - Martin Necas (50) / Tage Thompson (34)

Power Play

  • Carolina - 22.8% (13th)

  • Buffalo - 17.7% (26th)

Penalty Kill

  • Carolina - 85% (1st)

  • Buffalo - 78.4% (19th)


Hurricanes Projected Lineup

Jack Roslovic - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Eric Robinson - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Martin Necas
Andrei Svechnikov - Jordan Staal - Jordan Martinook
Juha Jaaska - Jack Drury - Jackson Blake

Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burn
Dmitry Orlov - Jalen Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere - Sean Walker

Pyotr Kochetkov
Dustin Tokarski

Injuries and Scratches:
Ty Smith, William Carrier (LBI), Tyson Jost (LBI), Frederik Andersen (LBI), Jesper Fast (neck)

Sabres Projected Lineup

Jason Zucker - Dylan Cozens - Tage Thompson
JJ Peterka - Ryan McLeod - Alex Tuch
Zach Benson - Peyton Krebs - Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn - Tyson Kozak - Sam Lafferty

Rasmus Dahlin - Bowen Byram
Owen Power - Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson - Connor Clifton

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
James Reimer

Injuries and Scratches: Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Dennis Gilbert, Jordan Greenway (MBI), Jiri Kulich (LBI), Mattias Samuelsson (illness)