CANADIENS AT SABRES
Here are five things to know about Wednesday’s 7 p.m. game between the Canadiens and the Sabres in Buffalo, writes Stu Cowan.
1 Kinkaid expected to start
Coach Claude Julien wouldn’t confirm it after Tuesday’s practice in Brossard, but you can expect Keith Kinkaid to get his first start in goal with the Canadiens after signing a oneyear, Us$1.75-million contract as a free agent this summer to be Carey Price’s backup. This is the first of three games in four nights for the Canadiens and Julien did confirm Kinkaid will start one of them. It makes sense to play Price in home games against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday and the Stanley Cup-champion St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
2 The power plays
After ranking 30th in the NHL on the power play last season with a 13.2 per cent success rate, the Canadiens have two power play goals (by Jeff Petry and Tomas Tatar) on six opportunities in their first two games, for a 33.3 per cent success rate. “It takes time,” Brendan Gallagher said after practice Tuesday. “It doesn’t just happen. It’s something that you got to work on, you got to practise. I thought today was a good day. It’s really just being a little bit more patient with the puck.” The Sabres’ power play is clicking at 60 per cent, with six goals on 10 opportunities, led by Victor Olofsson with three.
3 The $72 Million Man
The Sabres signed left-winger Jeff Skinner to an eight-year, Us$72-million contract during the off-season and the 27-yearold is off to a good start with 2-13 totals in the first three games. Skinner was selected by Carolina in the first round (seventh overall) at the 2010 NHL Draft. The Sabres acquired him from the Hurricanes on Aug. 2, 2018, in exchange for Cliff Pu, a second-round pick at the 2019 NHL Draft (Pyotr Kochetkov), and third- and sixth-round picks in 2020. Skinner posted 40-23-63 totals last season with the Sabres while playing in all 82 games.
4 The No. 1 draft pick
Nineteen-year-old defenceman Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 overall pick at the 2018 NHL draft, leads the Sabres in scoring with 1-4-5 totals and a plus-4 while averaging 18:50 of ice time in the first three games on the second pairing with Colin Miller. Defenceman Rasmus Ristolainen leads the Sabres with an average of 23:59 of ice time on the first pairing with Jake Mccabe (21:27).
5 Time and space
The Sabres won their first three games against the Canadiens last season before losing the final one 7-4 at the Bell Centre. “We know how dangerous they are, especially their forwards,” Gallagher said. “When they get the puck it’s kind of always about limiting their time and space. As soon as you give them too much time to make plays they’re pretty dangerous over there. They usually make you pay. So the games that we’ve had success, we’ve been able to be in their face.”