Game Preview | 5 things to know ahead of Sabres at Sharks

SAN JOSE – The Buffalo Sabres will look to enter the All-Star break on a winning note when they visit the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.

The game concludes a three-game road trip in California for the Sabres and is their last before the bye week, which leads into All-Star Weekend. The Sabres will reconvene for practice on Feb. 4 and play their next game on Feb. 6 at home against Dallas.

Pregame coverage on Saturday begins at 3:30 p.m. on MSG/MSG+  with puck drop scheduled for 4. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.

Here are five things to know.

1. Injury updates

Zemgus Girgensons did not practice Friday and is considered day to day after sustaining an injury during the first period of the Sabres’ win in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Mattias Samuelsson was also absent from practice after missing the win over the Kings and was still being evaluated for his own upper-body injury. He will not play against the Sharks, coach Don Granato said, though the team is hopeful that he will be ready to return after the break.

Erik Robinson did practice Friday but will miss a fourth straight game with an upper-body injury. Granato said he is expected to be at 100 percent coming out of the break.

2. The lineup

The Sabres will not hold a morning skate Saturday due to the afternoon start time out west. Here’s how the group lined up for practice on Friday, with 13 forwards and seven defensemen in the mix:

Forwards

53 Jeff Skinner – 72 Tage Thompson – 21 Kyle Okposo

12 Jordan Greenway – 37 Casey Mittelstadt – 89 Alex Tuch

22 Jack Quinn – 24 Dylan Cozens – 77 JJ Peterka

9 Zach Benson / 71 Victor Olofsson – 19 Peyton Krebs – 50 Eric Robinson

Defensemen

26 Rasmus Dahlin – 78 Jacob Bryson

25 Owen Power – 10 Henri Jokiharju

33 Ryan Johnson – 75 Connor Clifton / 6 Erik Johnson

Goalies

1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

27 Devon Levi

3. Last time out

The Sabres erased a 3-1 deficit on their way to a 5-3 win over the Kings on Wednesday, fueled in part by career nights for second-year linemates Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka.

Quinn (1+2) and Peterka (2+1) set career highs with three points each, while Peterka also drew three penalties. Their centerman, Dylan Cozens, added a goal and an assist.

Granato felt the team as a whole played with a confidence that was missing in its previous game, a 4-2 loss in Anaheim.

“We want to make sure that we play [Saturday] in the areas of compete, in the areas of willingness to battle, in the shot mentality, willingness to go after a loose puck, create a loose puck to go after,” he said. “Those are the areas we need to make sure we are doing consistently day in and day out, night in and night out.”

4. Success in goal

Devon Levi made 37 saves in the win over the Kings, which came on the heels of six consecutive starts for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

The goalie tandem has now combined to make 151 saves on 160 shots in Buffalo’s last five games, a save percentage of .944.

5. Scouting the Sharks

The Sabres defeated the Sharks 3-0 in Buffalo on Jan. 15 behind a three-point night from Casey Mittelstadt and a 28-save shutout from Luukkonen.

San Jose has gone 3-0-1 since that loss, including wins in its last three games. That run has coincided with the return of captain Logan Couture, who made his season debut in a win over Anaheim on Jan. 20 after missing the start of the campaign with a lower-body injury.

“I’ve said many times, you can throw out where each team is in the standings,” Granato said. “You’re playing against NHL teams. Seventy, eighty million dollars of talent on the other side. … So, we have to come and play the right way regardless of who it is. It’s got our attention obviously that they’ve just won three in a row and they’re as competent as anybody at winning hockey games.”