Saturday, September 27, 2008

Preseason Game Preview: Sabres vs. Leafs The Home Game

The Sabres and the Leafs face off again for the second time in a week during the preseason. The last time these two teams faced off was Monday night where the Leafs sent the Sabres home soundedly with a 7-4 win. Both teams were playing their rookies more and it was the first preseason game for both teams.

Now the game moves from the Airport to the Bank and the home crowd gets their first look at this year's Sabres team. The Sabres have looked a little listless on the special teams, allowing the Canadians to score two short handed goals on Tuesday. Their defense has also been a little weak giving up 10 goals in two games. But those were the first two preseason games and the major point of those games are getting players in game shape and being able to start to get back into the swing of things. As the number of preseason games wear on, the team is going to start to take shape and the play of the game will start looking more and more like the team that we will see this season.

Moving on to the Leafs, they have played more games since Monday nights game. The Penguins have taken the last two games from the Leafs winning Wednesday and Friday night. The Leafs have looked alright in their games with new coach Ron Wilson. The Leafs have been scoring more with the new offensive system, but Wilson is definitely a defensive coach. The point of Wilson coming into the system was the fact that they needed a new defensive system and the Leafs so far this preseason have allowed a minimum of 3 goals a game.

According to Sabres Edge the lineup for tonight's game is:

Forwards

Thomas Vanek-Derek Roy-Maxim Afinogenov

Philip Gogulla-Marek Zagrapan-Drew Stafford

Clarke MacArthur-Paul Gaustad-Ales Kotalik

Andrew Peters-Felix Schutz-Patrick Kaleta

Defense

Toni Lydman-Craig Rivet

Mike Weber-Teppo Numminen

Andrej Sekera-Tyler Myers

Goaltenders

Ryan Miller

Jhonas Enroth

I'm heading to the game tonight so I should have a better recap of this game as compared to the last two.

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