{"id":406188,"date":"2025-11-26T14:49:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T14:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/406188\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T14:49:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T14:49:19","slug":"game-preview-buffalo-sabres-pittsburgh-penguins-11-26-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/406188\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Preview: Buffalo Sabres @ Pittsburgh Penguins 11\/26\/25"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>Who:<\/strong> <strong>Buffalo Sabres <\/strong>(9-9-4, 22 points, 7th place Atlantic Division) @ <strong>Pittsburgh Penguins <\/strong>(10-6-5, 25 points, 5th place Metropolitan Division)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>How to Watch<\/strong>: Broadcast locally Sportsnet Pittsburgh, MSG-B, streaming on ESPN+<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>Pens\u2019 Path Ahead<\/strong>: Tonight starts a stretch of three games in four days for Pittsburgh. They\u2019ll make the quick trip over to Columbus for a game on Friday, then return home to meet the Toronto Maple Leafs at PPG Paints on Saturday. Then the calendar turns to December on Monday (seriously!) and the Pens will be in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>Opponent Track<\/strong>: Here come the Sabres? Buffalo is 4-1-0 in their last five, including winning three of their last four games, all coming at home and against some decent opposition (EDM, CHI, CAR). Of course, the Sabres also lost to Calgary last week and are 4-5-1 in the last 10, they still keep you on your toes not knowing exactly what to expect aside from proving they\u2019re capable of winning or losing just about any given night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>Hidden Stat<\/strong>: It\u2019s the traditional Thanksgiving Eve home game for the Pens, which has treated them really well in the Sidney Crosby era. Pittsburgh is 8-2-2 at home the night before Turkey Day in the last 20 years, and they\u2019re 4-1-0 since 2019 following a 5-4 win against Vancouver last year.<\/p>\n<p>Getting to know the Sabres<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Josh Doan &#8211; Tage Thompson &#8211; Alex Tuch<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Jason Zucker &#8211; Ryan McLeod &#8211; Jack Quinn<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Zach Benson &#8211; Noah Ostlund &#8211; Tyson Kozak<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Josh Dunne &#8211; Peyton Krebs &#8211; Brock Malenstyn<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Mattias Samuelsson \/ Rasmus Dahlin<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Bowen Byram \/ Conor Timmins<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Jacob Bryson \/ Owen Power<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>Goalies: <\/strong>Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>Potential scratches<\/strong>: Jordan Greenway, Zach Metsa<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>Injured Reserve<\/strong>: Josh Norris, Justin Danforth, Jiri Kulich, Michael Kesselring<\/p>\n<ul class=\"duet--article--unordered-list _1nfb3k4i feuejx0 ls9zuh1\">\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Buffalo has a crowded crease with three healthy goalies, the team not wanting to risk their depth and waive Ellis once Luukkonen came back from an injury he suffered in the preseason (against the Penguins, though they did not outwardly cause it). Luukkonen has been coming on as of late, playing in the last two games and winning them both, allowing only four total goals and posting a .925 save% in his recent outings.<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Josh Norris has resumed practicing after getting injured in opening night and being out ever since. Big shame, he looked amazing in the preseason in the games against the Penguins. Unfortunately staying healthy has been a major issue over his career.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a class=\"_1eezmj01\" href=\"https:\/\/platform.pensburgh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/123\/2025\/11\/buf.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0,20.885547201337,100,58.228905597327\" data-pswp-height=\"464.6666666666667\" data-pswp-width=\"697\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\"><img alt=\"\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"w91vxg0\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/buf.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul class=\"duet--article--unordered-list _1nfb3k4i feuejx0 ls9zuh1\">\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">The Sabres are quickly described as a few awesome players (Thompson, Tuch, Dahlin) then guy, guy, guy. It\u2019s been repeated to infinity but still worth pointing out that for a team that has drafted so high so frequently, their NHL talent in the 20-23-ish range isn\u2019t particularly dynamic, though it does have some nice pieces (Power, Benson, Ostlund and now Doan).<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Injuries have played into that; Benson is a nice little player who will only be in his 10th game of the season tonight, and as mentioned above Norris has been on IR all season besides opening night. Add in the starting goalie being out for the start of the year and that\u2019s some tough cards to pull right off the bat.<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">All in all, Lyon did well to hold things together as best he could while UPL was out, and Ellis was a pleasant surprise for a bit by battling and helping the team through a tough spot. Lyon, however, hasn\u2019t played in almost two weeks since allowing two goals on three shots against Colorado and has been shuffled down the depth chart for recent games. On the contrast, Luukkonen made 29 saves on 30 shots against Carolina last game.<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">They are getting some progress from younger players turning it around and stepping up. There was some outside consternation about the way Samuelsson was playing, looks like he is off to a fine season averaging almost 22 minutes per game and putting up an impressive 11 ES points in 20 games so far while carrying a team-high +9. Similarly, there were grumblings when Doan was the key piece of the summer trade that sent away last year\u2019s 68-point scorer JJ Peterka and Doan has filled a productive spot in the lineup.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Buffalo is riding high following their 4-1 win last Sunday against the Hurricanes. It\u2019s pulled them out of last place and fueling some belief about something to build on for this next stretch.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"duet--article--blockquote _1teeyfa0 ls9zuh9\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThis has to be our minimum,\u201d Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said. \u201cThis is how we have to play every night. It\u2019s competing, it\u2019s skating, it\u2019s doing the little things right, work for the team. That\u2019s got to be our bare minimum. Then we can improve some other things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">The Sabres still have plenty to improve, like most teams at the bottom of the standings. But the rest of the Eastern Conference has been enough of a mess for the Sabres to stay on the outskirts of the playoff picture. They\u2019ve won four of their last five games and are 3 points behind the second wild-card and 5 points behind the division-leading Detroit Red Wings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">If they\u2019re going to take advantage of an odd year in the conference, the Sabres will need to deal with bad breaks as well as they did against Carolina. The Sabres had a goal called off because of a questionable goaltender interference call. They also had to deal with a few other odd calls by the officials. They didn\u2019t allow that to deter them against an already-challenging opponent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup _1teeyfa8 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI think it\u2019s something we talked about a lot last year, we couldn\u2019t get through it,\u201d Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. \u201cIt\u2019s that dealing with adversity, where sometimes stuff isn\u2019t going to go your way and you\u2019ve got to move on fast. We had to deal with some tonight, for sure, and I thought we did. And the way we were playing, I was comfortable with the fact I thought we were going to still push ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>#1 power play vs #1 penalty kill<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"_1eezmj01\" href=\"https:\/\/platform.pensburgh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/123\/2025\/11\/bufsab.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0,0.3654970760234,100,99.269005847953\" data-pswp-height=\"452.66666666666663\" data-pswp-width=\"679\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\"><img alt=\"\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"w91vxg0\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bufsab.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Buffalo has been very potent offensively so far at even strength. Their 51 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/stats\/teams?report=goalsforbystrength&amp;reportType=season&amp;seasonFrom=20252026&amp;seasonTo=20252026&amp;gameType=2&amp;sort=goalsFor5On5&amp;page=0&amp;pageSize=50\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">5v5 goals ranks <\/a>5th in the NHL, which isn\u2019t out of line from the expected goals they generate. The offensive fireworks have come at the cost of defense, where they haven\u2019t been strong to say the least (52 5v5 goals allowed also is 5th in the NHL). Buffalo and Toronto are the only teams currently averaging 3.15+ goals per game scored and 3.15+ goals allowed this season, betting the over in Sabres\u2019 games is usually the play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Despite that, somewhat surprisingly, their goaltending (unimpressive statistically in every other way) puts on a Superman cape while on the penalty kill. Buffalo has a NHL high <a href=\"https:\/\/www.naturalstattrick.com\/teamtable.php?fromseason=20252026&amp;thruseason=20252026&amp;stype=2&amp;sit=pk&amp;score=all&amp;rate=n&amp;team=all&amp;loc=B&amp;gpf=410&amp;fd=&amp;td=\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">.931 save% while shorthanded<\/a>, by far the best in the league (only two others [TB, COL] have over a .900% while PKing). That figures to be a strong test for the Penguins, who possess the NHL\u2019s best power play. Buffalo is only getting out-scored 8-3 so far this year while shorthanded, and generating those three SHG is probably something the Pens should be mindful about while they\u2019re on the power play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">To complete the fickle and contradictory nature of the Sabres, their wonderful 5v5 offense dries up during the power play that has only converted 17.9% of the time. They can be all over the map like that and not always follow logic about performing well out of no where in some areas, then failing to capitalize in others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Connor Dewar &#8211; Sidney Crosby &#8211; Ben Kindel<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Kevin Hayes &#8211; Evgeni Malkin &#8211; Anthony Mantha<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ville Koivunen &#8211; Tristan Broz &#8211; Tommy Novak<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Joona Koppanen &#8211; Blake Lizotte &#8211; Danton Heinen<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Parker Wotherspoon \/ Erik Karlsson<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ryan Graves \/ Connor Clifton<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>Goalies: <\/strong>Arturs Silovs and Tristan Jarry? Also Sergei Murashov (for now..)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>Potential Scratches:<\/strong> Bryan Rust (illness), Matt Dumba, Harrison Brunicke (AHL rehab assignment)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><strong>IR:<\/strong> Koivunen and Jarry (for now..), Filip Hallander, Justin Brazeau, Rickard Rakell, Caleb Jones, Noel Acciari<\/p>\n<ul class=\"duet--article--unordered-list _1nfb3k4i feuejx0 ls9zuh1\">\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Bryan Rust has been absent from practice the last two days with an illness, we\u2019ll see if he can answer the bell and play tonight, otherwise the team prepared with the above lines that look about as game ready as they can be.<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Reinforcements look like they\u2019re coming as soon as tonight; Koivunen might be the best note of all, considering he was deemed \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pensburgh.com\/analysis\/69217\/sam-poulin-gets-another-chance-as-ville-koivunen-goes-on-ir\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">week to week<\/a>\u201d just over one week ago and is already back in team practice. Sam Poulin was sent back to the AHL yesterday, a good indicator that Koivunen will be back tonight.<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Tristan Jarry worked in practice yesterday with Silovs as a typical goaltender, signifying he could be back soon, at least dressing as backup (which would bump Murashov back to the AHL) Acciari and Rakell have been on the ice in some capacity this week, though a little further behind.<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">The team has announced Tristan Broz will in fact make his NHL debut tonight, so we\u2019ll get a pregame rookie warmup lap tonight. Broz will become the fourth player to make an NHL debut for the Pens this season already (joining an impressive list of Ben Kindel, Harrison Brunicke and Sergei Murashov having done the same) and become the ninth player with rookie status (the three mentioned above, plus Hallander, Poulin, Koivunen, Pickering and Silovs) to suit up for the Pens tonight.<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who: Buffalo Sabres (9-9-4, 22 points, 7th place Atlantic Division) @ Pittsburgh Penguins (10-6-5, 25 points, 5th place&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":406189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[114893,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-406188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-game-preview","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115616558366397349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}