Buffalo Sabres Fan Chatter: Preseason Game #3, or The One With Auston Matthews
Can the Buffalo Sabres keep the good times a’rollin’ against their newest foe to the north?
The Buffalo Sabres have played their opposition to a draw so far this preseason – seriously, if you add up the scores of the Sabres’ first two preseason games, the score is Buffalo 4, opponents 4.
Given the teams that Buffalo has faced so far, this is an acceptable result, as it means the Sabres might be closer to the sort of team that can hang with any team on a given night.
But let’s start talking about tonight by saying this much: I don’t want to see the Buffalo Sabres to find themselves in another one-goal contest when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight in St. Catherine’s, Ontario.
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Wouldn’t it be nice to see this team become the sort of team that can administer a true ass-kicking to the bottom-feeding teams of the NHL? Granted, I think the Leafs will be a better team in 2016-17, and I really liked what I saw from Auston Matthews in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. That kid might take the Leafs somewhere, if the fans and the media don’t run him out of town.
Still, I don’t expect the Maple Leafs to break out of the bottom-ten of the NHL this season, and since the Sabres should move into the top 20, it would be nice to see the blue and gold establish some dominance over the Leafs, starting tonight.
This game also marks the beginning of the sibling rivalry between the Sabres’ Alexander Nylander and his brother, William, so that adds a nice bit o’ drama to the affair!
Here’s the projected lineup for the Buffalo Sabres:
82 Marcus Foligno – 22 Johan Larsson – 21 Kyle Okposo
9 Evander Kane – 27 Derek Grant – 70 Alexander Nylander
26 Matt Moulson – 19 Cal O’Reilly – 52 Hudson Fasching
48 William Carrier – 43 Daniel Catenacci – 10 Cole Schneider
4 Josh Gorges – 47 Zach Bogosian
81 Mac Bennett/45 Brendan Guhle – 6 Cody Franson
41 Justin Falk – 46 Erik Burgdoerfer
31 Anders Nilsson
33 Jason Kasdorf
Power Play
1. O’Reilly, Kane, Okposo, Moulson, Bogosian
2. Nylander, Franson, Foligno, Larsson, Schneider
Let’s make our picks and see how the Sabres stack up.
1. How many points will Alexander Nylander pick up tonight? (5 pts.)
2. Who has the better +/- – Alexander or William Nylander? You may call a tie if you wish! (5 pts.)
3. Who scores Buffalo’s first goal tonight? (10 pts.)
4. What will the combined score of the game be? (7 pts.)
5. Who wins the game? (10 pts. but 15 if you correctly predict an OT victory!)
Have at it in the comments below, and let’s go Buffalo!
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