After a successful West Coast road trip, the Buffalo Sabres will return home on Wednesday to play the Minnesota Wild. They are likely to have their top goal-scorer back in the lineup.
Tage Thompson, the Sabres’ leading scorer, told reporters after practice on Tuesday that he would be “ready to go” for the game against the second-place team in the Central Division. The 27-year-old center, who scored 47 goals and 94 points two seasons ago, has been out since Nov. 11 due to a lower-body injury. Even though he has missed five games, Thompson still leads the team with 11 goals and ranks third in points with 18.
The Sabres swept their California road trip, defeating Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Jose over four days. After a break on Sunday and Monday, they returned to practice on Tuesday morning.
The winning streak has Buffalo tied for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. However, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff, who was last in charge when the team made the playoffs in 2011, knows his team needs to keep improving, especially against tough competition.
Ruff said that Tuesday’s practice did not start as well as he would have liked. “You come in off a road trip, and you’re hoping that the team can be ready to exceed the intensity that we were able to bring on the trip,” Ruff explained. “It’s the only way to get better.”
One area Ruff wants to improve is staying out of the penalty box. While on the road, Buffalo gave opponents 12 power-play opportunities, while they only had seven chances on the power play.
Minnesota is coming to Buffalo after a 4-1 loss at home to Central Division leaders Winnipeg on Monday. This was their second straight loss, following a shootout defeat to Calgary on Saturday.
Even though the Wild lost, they played hard. The team set a season-high 44 shots on goal, with half of those coming in the first period. The 22 shots in the first period were the second-most of any team in a single period this season, and the most the Wild had in one period in nearly seven years.
Wild head coach John Hynes felt his team played well but couldn’t get past Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner. “There’s some things that we can grow from the game, but we got a lot of hockey this week too,” Hynes said. “So, we got to put this one behind us, grab what we can take out of it, and then we got to make sure that we’re refreshed again (Tuesday) and we’re ready to go against Buffalo.”
Despite the two losses, Minnesota’s 30 points in 21 games match the franchise’s best start, which was set in the 2013-14 season.
Wild left winger Kirill Kaprizov leads the team with 13 goals and 21 assists. His 34 points are tied for third in the NHL, alongside Vegas’ Jack Eichel, just one point behind co-leaders Martin Necas of Carolina and Nathan MacKinnon of Colorado.
Minnesota might be without defenseman Jakub Lauko, who left Monday’s game early with a lower-body injury. Hynes did not provide an update on Lauko’s condition after the game.
