At the Rink: Sabres at Coyotes

Monday, 01.18.2016 / 2:46 PM | Jerry Brown  - NHL.com Correspondent

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Coyotes made two trades in the past week and continued to shuffle their roster prior to the game against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday (9 p.m. ET; MSG-B, BELL TV, FS-A).

One of their constants of late, rookie goaltender Louis Domingue, will get the start. He was 5-0-2 in seven consecutive starts before sitting out a 2-0 loss Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.

The Coyotes assigned veteran forward Steve Downie to Springfield of the American Hockey League after he cleared waivers over the weekend.

Downie, who was signed to a one-year, $1.75 million contract this past summer, has three goals and six points in 25 games and has been a healthy scratch in seven of the past nine games.

"He hasn't played much lately," coach Dave Tippett said. "He's got to get his game up and moving here."

The move gives general manager Don Maloney, who recently added defensemen Kevin Connauton and Jarred Tinordi to the roster and traded defenseman Stefan Elliott and forward John Scott in separate moves, another roster spot if he chooses to continue tinkering.

Tinordi is a scratch against the Sabres along with Klas Dahlbeck, who sat out for the first time this season in the loss to New Jersey. Connauton will play his second game, paired with Zbynek Michalek.

"(Tinordi) hasn't skated for a few days so he did some extra work today," Tippett said. "He's a young, big, hard defender that we think there's some upside on. Hopefully the change of scenery helps him and we can get him up and going.

"I thought Kevin played alright the other day and we'll have another look at him. I like our depth on defense now. We arguably have eight players here that can play in any situation we see going down the stretch. That was a concern for us."

The Coyotes have lost their past two games, one in overtime, but are 8-2-3 the past 13 games and Tippett felt they played well in losses against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday and New Jersey.

The Sabres come to town having won three of the past four games and are fresh off their best performance of the season in a 4-1 win against the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

Goalie Chad Johnson made 33 saves against Washington and was named the No. 1 star. He will start against his former team. Defenseman Josh Gorges (upper body) skated with the team Monday but isn't expected to play.

"We have to recognize the challenge ahead of us tonight," Tippett said. "Buffalo's coming off a real strong game against Washington and they are going to come in ready to play. We've got to get our minds back in the game. Against New Jersey, we did things that were alright but we didn't do enough to win."

Here are the projected lineups:

SABRES

Evander KaneRyan O'ReillySam Reinhart

Philip VaroneJack EichelJamie McGinn

Marcus FolignoJohan LarssonBrian Gionta

Matt MoulsonTim SchallerDavid Legwand

Zach BogosianRasmus Ristolainen

Jake McCabeCody Franson

Mike WeberMark Pysyk

Chad Johnson

Robin Lehner

Injured: Tyler Ennis (upper body), Nicolas Deslauriers (lower body), Cody McCormick (blood clot), Zemgus Girgensons (upper body), Josh Gorges (upper body).

Scratched: Carlo Colaiacovo

COYOTES

Tobias Rieder - Antoine Vermette - Mikkel Boedker

Max Domi - Martin Hanzal - Anthony Duclair

Jordan Martinook - Brad Richardson - Shane Doan

Kyle Chipchura - Boyd Gordon - Viktor Tikhonov

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Connor Murphy

Kevin Connauton- Zbynek Michalek

Nicklas Grossman - Michael Stone

Louis Domingue

Anders Lindback

Injured: Mike Smith (abdominal surgery), Joe Vitale (fractured orbital bone)

Scratched: Klas Dahlbeck

Status report: Viktor Tikhonov is back in after sitting as a scratch Saturday.

Who's hot: O'Reilly, who leads Buffalo with 38 points, has a point in five of the past six games. … Doan has eight goals and 10 points in the past 10 home games. … Domi had two goals against the Sabres in Buffalo on Dec. 4, then went 15 games without a goal before he had a hat trick against the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 12.

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