Preseason Game Preview: Sabres vs. Leafs

It is officially the first preseason game of the year for the Buffalo Sabres and it comes in front of the hostile fans of Toronto. The Sabres start the preseason with two games in Canada tonight and tommorrow night. Tommorrow night's game is in Roberval, Quebec, the 2008 Kraft Hockeytown.

Both teams are trying to rebound from missing the playoffs last year and both teams have players that need to adjust to their new teammates. For the Sabres, Craig Rivet will play his first game with the Sabres while for the Leafs have new faces in Mike Van Ryn and Jeff Finger.

The Leafs will be playing with the following roster for tonight:

Goal
29 Justin Pogge
31 Curtis Joseph

Defence
2 Luke Schenn
4 Jeff Finger
7 Ian White
8 Carlo Colaiacovo
26 Mike Van Ryn
40 Staffan Kronwall

Forward
11 Jiri Tlusty
14 Mtt Stajan
19 Cominic Moore
22 Boyd Devereaux
25 Ben Ondrus
28 Mark Bell
39 John Mitchell
41 Nik Kulemin
44 Ryan Hollweg
47 Darryl Boyce
52 Robbie Earl
55 Jason Blake

As far as the Sabres roster for tonight, I cannot seem to find one anywhere. We do know a few things though. Thomas Vanek and Paul Gaustad are going to be out for the first two preseason games. Vanek is out with a pinched nerve in the knee and Gaustad is out with a bruised shoulder. The Sabres are going to take about 35 players to Toronto, only 5 or 6 are going to play both nights.