Buffalo Sabres – Seattle Kraken Game Preview
1/11/25 – 4:00 pm EST at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY
Record
Buffalo – 16-21-5 | 37 points – 8th place in the Atlantic Division
Seattle – 17-22-3 | 37 points – 7th place in the Pacific Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 17.7% (26th)
Penalty Kill – 78.5% (19th)
Seattle
Power Play – 18.2% (24th)
Penalty Kill – 79.4% (16th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 37 GP, 19 G, 15 A, 34 PTS
Jason Zucker: 42 GP, 15 G, 16 A, 31 PTS
Alex Tuch: 42 GP, 14 G, 17 A, 31 PTS
Seattle
Jared McCann: 42 GP, 13 G, 17 A, 30 PTS
Chandler Stephenson: 41 GP, 5 G, 22 A, 27 PTS
Oliver Bjorkstrand: 41 GP, 11 G, 15 A, 26 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (13-12-4, 2.95 GAA, .898 save %)
Seattle – Joey Daccord (12-9-2, 2.47 GAA, .913 save %)
Line Combinations and Pairings
Buffalo
Forwards
Jason Zucker – Dylan Cozens - Tage Thompson
JJ Peterka - Ryan McLeod - Alex Tuch
Zach Benson - Peyton Krebs - Jack Quinn
Nicolas Aube-Kubel – Tyson Kozak - Sam Lafferty
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin - Bowen Byram
Owen Power - Connor Clifton
Jacob Bryson - Henri Jokiharju
Ex.: Dennis Gilbert
Goaltenders
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
James Reimer
Injuries
Jordan Greenway (IR - middle body)
Jiri Kulich (IR – lower body)
Beck Malenstyn (day-to-day – illness)
Mattias Samuelsson (day-to-day – illness)
Notes
The Sabres have earned two consecutive wins and a win tonight would give them their fifth three-game winning streak of the season.
In his last nine games, Jason Zucker has recorded 10 points (7+3).
Tage Thompson has posted nine points (3+6) in his last eight games.
Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 11 assists in his last eight games. Dahlin is riding a four-game assist streak, his longest such streak of the season. Dahlin has recorded 72 goals in his career, one shy of tying Mike Ramsey (73) for the second-most all-time among all Buffalo defensemen. Dahlin has recorded three points (1+2) in three home games against Seattle in his career
JJ Peterka has posted 12 points (2+10) in his last 12 games, including four assists in his last four games. Jack Quinn has tallied 11 points (6+5) in his last 11 games, including five multi-point performances in that span.
Alex Tuch has registered six points (4+2) in his last three games against the Kraken and he has recorded two points in each of the games in that span. Tuch’s three-game multi-point streak is tied for the longest such streak against Seattle all-time and he is tied with Cale Makar for the longest such active streak against the Kraken.
In six career games against the Kraken, Dylan Cozens has posted six points (2+4)..
Nicolas Aube-Kubel (3+0) and Tage Thompson (1+2) have each registered three points in their last three games against the Kraken.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves on 34 shots (.941) in his only start against the Kraken in his career on March 18, 2024.
Follow Michael on X, Instagram, and Bluesky @MikeInBuffalo
The 13 game winless streak has taken them completely out of the playoff race. They, you know, I believe Money Puck has them at 3% chance of making the playoff. So I, you know, if they can have an eight game winning streak and they're still not going to be within five or six points, any realistic person looking at this team sees that there's talent there, but is there enough talent in the right places to make them a winner? Obviously they know they're going to be a team that will miss the playoffs for 14 straight years. I don't think there's a chance in hell. If they do, I will be the first person to say, Oh my God, what a great comeback. They could do what St. Louis did in 2019. That's happened once in my lifetime when a team was 30, 30, it was last place in the league and came back, made the playoffs and made them win the Stanley cup. I don't think this team has what it takes to do the same thing. So all I can say is what changes are going to be made between now and March the 7th when it comes to the Sabres. And I think the ownership where, you know, Corinne was making the point about Terry Pagoola, this is where the ownership needs to make up their mind. Is Kevin Adams the guy to make these changes?
