Coming off the most complete win of this young season against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, the Anaheim Ducks appear to be rolling along. The team has won five straight games, and the Ducks will be looking to continue their winning streak tonight against the Buffalo Sabres, a team they defeated just nine days ago.
The forward combinations all performed very well on Sunday, so no real changes can be expected. Corey Perry failed to register a point on Sunday, which was his first game this season where he failed to score. Linemate Ryan Getzlaf, meanwhile, registered two assists, bringing up his season total to eight points, which leads the team. When the Sabres visted Anaheim last year, Getzlaf recorded his first career hat trick, scoring all three goals in the first period. Dany Heatley skated today, but will not play. The skating is encouraging, and the team may see Heatley dress sooner rather than later.
According to Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register, here are the expected lineups for tonight.
Anaheim Ducks Forward Lines:
Devante Smith-Pelly – Getzlaf – Perry
Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg
Matt Beleskey – William Karlsson – Rickard Rakell
Emerson Etem – Nate Thompson – Tim Jackman
On defense, blue-liner Mark Fistric will draw in for the first time this season. Fistric, who has been a healthy scratch for the first six games this year, scored five points while averaging 15:24 in ice time over 34 games last season. Fistric will replace Clayton Stoner on the third pairing, who has averaged 16:39 in ice time over the first six games while being tied for the team lead in penalty minutes (nine, with Kesler). Sami Vatanen will look to build off his first career multi-goal performance on Sunday, scoring two power-play goals for the Ducks. Like Heatley, Bryan Allen skated today, but will not play.
Anaheim Ducks Defense Pairings:
Cam Fowler – Ben Lovejoy
Hampus Lindholm – Francois Beauchemin
Fistric – Vatanen
As for the Sabres, they are coming off a 4-0 shutout loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday. The team is 1-5-0 in its first six games and is now entering the California road-trip portion of their schedule, with a game against the Kings tomorrow evening and a tilt with the Sharks on Saturday afternoon. The Sabres have scored just seven goals this season (not including the shootout tally against the Carolina Hurricanes), and those goals have come from just four players. Rookie Sam Reinhart, the second overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, has yet to record a point this season.
Buffalo Sabres Forward Lines:
Matt Moulson – Tyler Ennis – Brian Gionta
Marcus Foligno – Cody Hodgson – Chris Stewart
Torrey Mitchell – Zemgus Girgensons – Drew Stafford
Nicolas Deslauriers – Reinhart – Cody McCormick
On defense, trade rumors continue to swirl around 6’8 giant Tyler Myers. The 2010 Calder Trophy winner should generate some buzz around the NHL, as good defensemen are a highly-valuable commodity in today’s NHL. Myers has a $5.5 million cap hit for the next five seasons, which is fairly expensive, but a reasonable price for a good defenseman in the game today.
Buffalo Sabres Defense Pairings:
Josh Gorges – Myers
Mike Weber – Andrej Meszaros
Andre Benoit – Rasmus Ristolainen
In goal tonight, Frederik Andersen (5-0-0, 1.38 GAA, .950 SV%) will get his first start after being named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week. Opposing him will be Michal Neuvirth (0-1-0, 5.00 GAA, .886 SV%), who got his only start of the season against the Ducks last Monday, where he yielded five goals while facing 44 shots.
Jason Byun is one of the editors for Pucks of a Feather. He can be found on Twitter. For more Anaheim Ducks coverage, follow Pucks of a Feather on Twitter or like us on Facebook.