{coyotes} COYOTES (13-11-1) at SABRES (10-12-3)

Thursday, 3 December 2015

{coyotes} COYOTES (13-11-1) at SABRES (10-12-3)

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Friday, December 4, 2015

7:00 PM ET

COYOTES (13-11-1) at SABRES (10-12-3)

TV: FS-A PLUS, MSG-B, BELL TV

Season series: The Arizona Coyotes and Buffalo Sabres split two games last season. Five Arizona players scored a goal. Buffalo forward Brian Gionta and defensemen Rasmus Ristolainen and Andrej Meszaros each had two goals.

Coyotes team scope: Arizona has lost the first two of its five-game road trip after a 5-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday. Goalie Mike Smith could make his third straight start and second in as many nights after he was replaced by Anders Lindback to start the second period in Detroit. Smith allowed three goals on 16 shots. "Just a momentum change," coach Dave Tippett said. "Two goals in the last minute. Just tried to create a momentum change." Lindback made 26 saves.

Sabres team scope: Buffalo has won two of its past three games but will be looking to bounce back after blowing a one-goal lead in the third period of a 5-4 shootout loss to the Red Wings on Tuesday. Ristolainen had three assists and has 14 points in his past 16 games. "He has great ability, skating ability, size (6-foot-4, 207 pounds)," coach Dan Bylsma told the Sabres website Thursday. "Really, the growth has been in his defending. You can look at his point total and see where he's at on our team … to say he's doing a lot of good things, but I see more of the growth on his defensive game. … He's playing against the best players every night, and he's taken that as a challenge and he's improved his game in a lot of areas in that regard and it's been big for our team." The Sabres assigned forward Tim Schaller to Rochester of the American Hockey League on Thursday; he had two assists in six games after being recalled Oct. 26. Forward Tyler Ennis, who has missed four games with an upper-body injury, and defenseman Mark Pysyk, who has missed seven games because of a lower-body bone bruise, are week-to-week, Bylsma said.

Team Stats