Games 66 & 67 Scouting Report: The Blue Jackets Take On Buffalo Twice

Columbus Blue Jackets (42–17–6) vs. Buffalo Sabres (27–28–12)

FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017, 7 p.m. (NATIONWIDE ARENA)
SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 2017, 7 p.m. (KEYBANK CENTER)

The Sabres come to Columbus much like a wounded animal. In mid-February, the young Buffalo squad appeared on the fringes of the playoff run; since then, the Sabres have won just one of eight, going 1–5–2 in that span.

The last two losses have been particularly ignominious. Buffalo took a 3-0 lead after one period Sunday at Pittsburgh only to watch the Penguins roar back for a 4-3 victory with two goals in a 50-second span of the final four minutes.

“To let that slip away in the position we’re in, it’s disappointing,” defenseman Josh Gorges said afterward. “We have to find ways to get wins. We come out, we have a good start and – I don’t want to say we stopped playing – we don’t play enough. We don’t do enough to get ourselves a win.”

Tuesday, things didn’t get much better as Buffalo couldn’t keep the puck out of the net in a 6-3 home loss to Philadelphia. Afterward, the reality that any high hopes the team had toward making the postseason appeared to be crumbling.

“I thought we weren’t ready to play the game,” head coach Dan Bylsma said. “That’s what it looked like. Maybe a little shell-shocked, maybe a little back on our heels from the previous game.”

The Sabres weren’t expected to be a playoff team this year, and progress in many ways has been measured by the growth of 2015 No. 2 overall pick Jack Eichel and fellow young forward Sam Reinhart.

To hear Bylsma tell it, the next step is for the Sabres to continue to reach the right compete level when the chips are down.

“Am I satisfied with the progress? No, I’m not satisfied with the progress,” Bylsma said after the loss to the Penguins. “The next step is learning how to win, learning how to win those games. It’s not just playing shinny hockey and at the end of the game you check the scoreboard to see who won. You’ve got to learn how to win these types of hockey games.”

You Oughta Know: Evander Kane

When Kane got to December without scoring a goal, some had to wonder about the 25-year-old power forward, who looked like a future star when he scored 30 goals as a 20-year-old in 2011-12 but whose career had never took off on that trajectory. Since then, all Kane has done is light the lamp 24 times, placing him tied for second in the league since the start of December with Nashville’s Filip Forsberg. Twenty-two of those goals have come at even strength. The 6-2, 211-pounder is also among league leaders with 93 penalty minutes.

[Fire Emoji] Right Now

• Jack Eichel posted two goals and an assist Tuesday vs. Philadelphia, extending his career-best point streak to 11 games, the second-longest in the NHL this season. He has a 5-11-16 line during that stretch and after that game led the league with 24 points since Feb. 1.
• Ryan O’Reilly had an assist vs. the Flyers to extend his point streak to five games (three goals, four assists).
• Finnish defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen has a point in 12 of his last 17 games with a goal and 11 assists.

Five Fast Facts

• Jack Eichel became the third-youngest player in Sabres history to reach 100 career points Tuesday vs. the Flyers, behind only Pierre Turgeon and Phil Housley. He leads the NHL with 4.1 shots per game.
• The Sabres are just 7-11-3 when outshooting teams and 19-16-7 when being outshot.
• Injuries: Cody McCormick (blood clots); Johan Larsson (wrist); William Carrier (knee); Kyle Okposo (ribs); Dmitry Kulikov (upper body).
• Among league leaders: The Sabres’ power play (23.4 percent) is tops in the league while forward Marcus Foligno is third in hits with 237.
• Former Jackets: Defenseman Justin Falk played 29 games with Columbus over the past two seasons, scoring a single goal with five assists. This year, the stay-at-home blue-liner is yet to score a goal with seven assists in 43 games to go with a minus-1 rating. He began the year in Rochester before being called up in November.

Previous Matchups

None this year.
ALL TIME SERIES: Jackets lead 13-9-1

Keys to the Game

SCORE: Duh, but this is a Buffalo team that has been ceding goals of late. Each of the last nine opponents has gotten to double digits in goals, with five scoring four or more. Columbus has been struggling to score but has a chance to get healthy here.

CONTROL BIG GUNS: Buffalo has eight players in double digits in goals – seven will play vs. Columbus with Okposo likely out – and no one else above six. The top two lines can put the puck in the net while the bottom two have not. This is a top-heavy scoring unit.

DEFENSE INTO OFFENSE: Much of the success for Columbus this year can be traced to an active and skilled back line. Buffalo, meanwhile, doesn’t have a blue-liner with more than four goals. The CBJ defenders’ ability to move the puck is an advantage.

Sabres Projected Lineup

10 Stats to Know

Impress your friends and enemies alike with these 10 key Buffalo Sabres stats.