NHL Grind Down: Sunday, February 12th - Page Two
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Vancouver Canucks at Buffalo Sabres
| Vancouver Canucks | Buffalo Sabres | ||||||||
 | Jacob Markstrom |  | Anders Nilsson | ||||||
| Record | Record | ||||||||
| 24-25-6 | 23-22-10 | ||||||||
| Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% | Stats | GF/GP | GA/GP | PP% | PK% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Stats | 2.30 | 2.81 | 15.50% | 78.60% | Team Stats | 2.44 | 2.76 | 23.80% | 73.60% |
More than likely what you will witness in this game is two teams that will be golfing by mid-April as they both have 54 points so far this season. At this rate this will not be good enough for post-season play. Vancouver is one of the dumber teams in the league as their top scorer in Bo Horvat doesn’t even get the courtesy to play on the top power play unit. I’m sure there may be another team or two that does that but they are usually team’s that use two units liberally, not rely on the top unit for more than 65% of the ice time. Mikael Granlund of Minnesota comes to mind but that’s also a team that has six players who have more than Horvat’s 36 points. Anyway, Buffalo should be busy trying to stop the top line that features Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Loui Eriksson which means that Horvat should have plenty of room to score while skating on the third line. Brandon Sutter is another one-off candidate here as he centers the second line but does get the extra minutes with the top line when the Canucks draw a penalty. Sutter has grabbed seven of his 26 points via the man advantage. Troy Stecher remains on the top power play unit but I don’t think that having 15 points in 46 is worthy of a tournament play let alone a cash play here tonight.
The Buffalo Sabres should be pretty high after beating cross-lake rival Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 3-1 in their own building last night. The trick today is to stay focused as they play a team that is very similar to the way the Sabres have performed this season. Buffalo has done the best this season with what they have as even when they are fully healthy they have about five skill players at best. Ryan O’Reilly and Kyle Okposo play on the team’s top line with Justin Bailey while Sam Reinhart is back up in the top six where he belongs while skating with Jack Eichel and Evander Kane. Buffalo has netted four power play goals over the last three games while the Canucks have given a power play goal in four of their last six games. Okposo’s seven goals and 12 asissts lead the team in both power play categories while his 36 points is atop the Sabres scoring chart for the season. You can pair him up with O’Reilly or go with Eichel and Reinhart as Buffalo should be able to put some points on the board tonight. Eichel has tallied 10 of his 29 points over the last nine games which isn’t bad considering he has only suited up for 34 games this season. Kane can be used as a one-off here as he leads the team with 153 shots and 18 goals . Rasmus Ristolainen will help you avoid paying up for Brent burns as long as you take him with Boston’s Torey Krug. Ristolainen has anchored the team’s top power play since the beginning of the season and now has the parts to work with to become even more effective than he already is. Ristolainen has found the score sheet 18 times when the Sabres have the extra attacker which just adds to his season total of four goals and 27 assists.
Elite Plays
VAN: Bo Horvat
BUFF: Jack Eichel, Kyle Okposo
Secondary Plays
VAN: Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Brandon Sutter
BUFF: Ryan O’Reilly, Rasmus Ristolainen, Evander Kane