Sabres at Flyers preview

Eichel can match the Buffalo record of 18 straight with a point, set by Gilbert Perreault (Oct. 24-Dec. 4, 1971). The forward has 31 points (16 goals, 15 assists) during his streak, the longest in the NHL this season and tied with Dave Andreychuk for the second-longest in Sabres history. Andreychuk had two 17-game point streaks (Dec. 31, 1991-Feb. 4, 1992, Oct. 18-Nov. 14, 1992).  

Buffalo is 3-1-1 in its past five games but is trying to get its first win on a three-game road trip after losing 3-2 in overtime at the New York Islanders on Saturday and 5-3 at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

The Flyers ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday. They are 9-1-4 in their past 14 games at home.

Players to watch

Sabres forward Victor Olofsson has six points (two goals, four assists) during a four-game point streak. He leads NHL rookies with 14 goals and 32 points.

Flyers forward Claude Giroux has 37 points (eight goals, 29 assists) in 36 career games against the Sabres.

They said it

"He's playing against top lines of other teams all the time, trying to shut them down and win those games within the game and that means a lot to him right now. His offense is breeding out of that and it's coming without the same pressure as in the past because he feels good about a strong defensive game." -- Sabres coach Ralph Krueger on forward Jack Eichel

"He plays around 22, 23 minutes a game so we're probably going to have two lines and two sets of [defensemen] there. He's going to get some looks. We're going to try to, like everybody does, take his time and space away, but we know he's going to get some looks and we'll try to limit those looks the best we can tonight." -- Flyers coach Alain Vigneault on trying to defend Eichel

Sabres projected lineup

Victor Olofsson -- Jack Eichel -- Sam Reinhart

Jimmy Vesey -- Marcus Johansson -- Rasmus Asplund

Jeff Skinner -- Evan Rodrigues -- Conor Sheary

Zemgus Girgensons -- Johan Larsson -- Kyle Okposo

Jake McCabe -- Rasmus Ristolainen

Marco Scandella -- Rasmus Dahlin

Colin Miller -- Brandon Montour

Carter Hutton

Linus Ullmark

Scratched: Zach Bogosian, Henri Jokiharju

Injured: Tage Thompson (upper body), Vladimir Sobotka (knee)

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Travis Konecny

James van Riemsdyk -- Kevin Hayes -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel

David Kase -- Morgan Frost -- Jakub Voracek

Andy Andreoff -- Mikhail Vorobyev -- Tyler Pitlick

Ivan Provorov -- Matt Niskanen

Travis Sanheim -- Justin Braun

Shayne Gostisbehere -- Philippe Myers

Carter Hart

Brian Elliott

Scratched: Robert Hagg, Chris Stewart

Injured: Nolan Patrick (migraine disorder), Michael Raffl (finger), Scott Laughton (groin)

Suspended: Joel Farabee

Status report

Hutton will start for the first time in six games. Krueger said his six defensemen would be a game-time decision. ... The Flyers had an optional morning skate. Pitlick returns after missing two games with a concussion, replacing Stewart. Myers replaces Hagg after being scratched the past two games.

Stat pack

Reinhart has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past seven games and is one goal from 100 in the NHL. ... Gostisbehere has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past nine games and is two points from 200 in the NHL.