Hurricanes Lines
The only change for the Canes from their last game this past Saturday against the Sabres in Raleigh is at the end of the bench, where Eddie Lack returns after a month on the shelf with a concussion. Lack will back up Cam Ward tonight, who makes his eighth straight start.
Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Derek Ryan
Brock McGinn - Jordan Staal - Elias Lindholm
Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen - Lee Stempniak
Joakim Nordstrom - Jay McClement - Viktor Stalberg
Jaccob Slavin - Brett Pesce
Ron Hainsey - Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin - Matt Tennyson
Injuries and Scratches: Bryan Bickell (IR multiple sclerosis), Klas Dahlbeck (healthy), Ryan Murphy (healthy), Andrej Nestrasil (healthy)
Sabres Lines
Buffalo has gone into the first intermission down 1-0 in each of their last four games, and coach Dan Bylsma has seen enough. “My words to the players is we need to be more emotionally attached to the game right from the start,” he told the Buffalo News this morning. “We get emotionally attached to the game in the second period and we come with a lot after that point. Our challenge is we've got to get emotionally attached to the game right from the drop of the puck.”
With that in mind, the Sabres are making one change after Tuesday’s shootout loss to the Panthers, scratching William Carrier and re-inserting Nicolas Deslauriers. Ironically, that makes the Sabres’ lineup tonight identical to the one that they iced last Saturday against the Hurricanes.
Matt Moulson - Jack Eichel - Kyle Okposo
Marcus Foligno - Ryan O’Reilly - Sam Reinhart
Evander Kane - Johan Larsson - Brian Gionta
Nicolas Deslauriers - Derek Grant - Zemgus Girgensons
Jake McCabe - Rasmus Ristolainen
Dmitry Kulikov - Zach Bogosian
Josh Gorges - Cody Franson
Robin Lehner
Anders Nilsson
Injuries and Scratches: Tyler Ennis (IR groin), Justin Falk (healthy), William Carrier (healthy)