Montreal, Quebec (WGR) – The Buffalo Sabers will be without three of their seven defensemen for Tuesday’s NHL Frozen Frenzy, where all 32 teams in the league are in action.
The Sabers are in Montreal to face the Canadiens in the first rematch of last year’s second-round Stanley Cup playoff game.
Sabers captain Rasmus Dahlin is not with the team. Dahlin left Monday’s game after grabbing his back and never returned. After the game, Lindy Ruff said Dahlin would stay in Buffalo and receive treatment.
On Tuesday, Matt Grzelcyk was placed on injured reserve with an unknown injury. Conor Timmins is already on IR and wearing a walking boot. Dennis Gilbert was recalled from the Rochester Americans, where he went four games without a point. He will be inserted into the lineup. He hasn’t played with the Sabers since playing in 25 games during the 2024-25 season.
Colten Ellis started Monday’s game, but was pulled by Ruff after scoring two bad goals in 26:26 of work. He made seven saves. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen took over and had his best outing of the season. In 33:34, he stopped 13 of 14 shots. As of Tuesday morning, Alex Lyon was still on IR, so without a morning practice, we don’t know who Ruff will go with. Luukkonen is 2-2-0 with a 3.67 goals-against average and .812 save percentage. Ellis is 1-1-0 with a 3.19 goals against rating and a .864 save percentage. With 3.67, the Sabers are 26th in the league.
Overall, Buffalo is 3-3-0, but its penalty kill still hasn’t come to fruition. They are 30th with only 60%. After going 0-for-14 on the power play, Buffalo went 3-for-8.
Tage Thompson has four goals, which ranks 11th in the NHL. He has seven points in his last five games. Thompson has 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points in 20 career games against Montreal. Owen Power is tied for first place among teams with Thompson. Power has a goal and six assists for seven points and took over for Dahlin on the No. 1 power play unit. Power is also averaging 26:07 of ice time.
For a second straight game, the Sabers will face the worst power play in the NHL. Florida started Monday’s game worse, but scored two power play goals, dropping Montreal to 32nd with 5.9%. The Canadiens are also worse defensively than Buffalo, allowing 3.80 goals per game, which places them 27th.
The Canadiens are 2-2-1, but have lost three of four games. Jacob Fowler will be in net for a third consecutive game. He is 1-1-0 with a 1.46 goals against rating and a .938 save percentage.
What hurt the Habs was that Cole Caufield was icy at the start of the season. He only scored in one of his five games where he scored two. He has no assists. Nick Suzuki leads the way with three goals and four assists for seven points in five games. In 21 career games against the Sabres, the Canadiens captain has 26 points. Last year, Jural Slofkovsky had an exceptional season scoring 30 goals and 73 points. This year he has one goal and no assists.
Puck drop is scheduled for 6:35 p.m., so Zach Jones and Derek Kramer will have an abbreviated pregame show on WGR, starting at 6 p.m. ET. There you will hear Ruff and Beck Malenstyn.
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