Find the projected lineup below, with no changes from Sunday's game in New York other than Tokarski starting in goal.
| March 28 at Chicago |
| --- |
| | C | RW |
| 53 Jeff Skinner | 72 Tage Thompson | 89 Alex Tuch |
| 74 Rasmus Asplund | 37 Casey Mittelstadt | 71 Victor Olofsson |
| 19 Peyton Krebs | 24 Dylan Cozens | 29 Vinnie Hinostroza |
| 28 Zemgus Girgensons | 20 Cody Eakin | 21 Kyle Okposo |
| | | |
| LD | RD | G |
| 26 Rasmus Dahlin | 10 Henri Jokiharju | 41 Craig Anderson |
| 23 Mattias Samuelsson | 78 Jacob Bryson | 31 Dustin Tokarski |
| 4 Will Butcher | 45 Casey Fitzgerald | |
| | | |
Tokarski has stopped 90 of 94 shots in his last three starts, a .957 save percentage.
"I've felt good the last three games," he said. "The guys are playing awesome, too, so that helps. You get a great chance to see the first shot and clearing out rebounds, so I'm having fun playing behind them and I think our team's playing pretty darn good right now."
The Sabres have earned points in five straight games (3-0-2) following their shootout loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Their last six-game point streak was Oct. 3 to 14, 2019, when they went 5-0-1 to open that season.
If tonight's game goes to overtime, it will mark the first time in franchise history that six consecutive contests go beyond regulation.
Granato grew up 20 miles west of Chicago in the Village of Downers Grove. He spent two years as an AHL head coach with the Chicago Wolves and two more as an assistant with the Blackhawks.
Tonight marks his first game as an NHL head coach in his hometown.
"I spent the day with my parents, which was great," Granato said. "But … we weren't happy with last night and I know some of our guys weren't happy last night and that all-consuming. So, I returned a lot of texts today, but this game was consuming me I can tell you that.
"It's nice to be in Chicago, but it's much, much nicer with a win and we need to focus on that."
The Blackhawks held third-period leads of 3-0 and 4-3 before falling in overtime to the Golden Knights on Saturday, ending a two-game winning streak.
Patrick Kane (2+8), Dylan Strome (3+4), and Seth Jones (1+1) enter on five-game point streaks. Kane leads the team with 78 points (21+57) this season.
Kevin Lankinen will start in goal.
