It's still preseason but what you'll see Monday night in KeyBank Center will look a lot more like a regular season NHL game.
The Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets will be fielding mostly NHL lineups in Buffalo's fourth exhibition game (7 p.m., WGR Radio, streamed at Sabres.com). And a huge focus will again be in the Buffalo net, where rookie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will get the start and is expected to go the distance.
Playing behind a struggling Sabres team inside Little Caesars Arena, Luuukkonen allowed five goals on 31 shots in a 6-2 loss that illustrated how much work is ahead for coach Don Granato and his players before the season opens Oct. 14.
Luukkonen made 18 saves while blanking Detroit in a strong first period Thursday in Little Caesars Arena. But he was touched for four goals in the second en route to a 6-2 loss.
The Columbus forward corps he will be facing tonight will include the likes of Patrik Laine, Boone Jenner, Jakub Voracek, Gustav Nyquist, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Jack Roslovic, Sean Kuraly and Liam Foudy, while No. 1 defenseman Zach Werenski will also be skating for the visitors.
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"That excites me, now that he's got a game under his belt," Sabres coach Don Granato said of Luukkonen after today's morning skate. "Everybody progresses after a game this time of the year. He's a young guy with a lot of talent so each time out all of us in this room are trying to figure out did he get better? Is he getting better? Is he taking the experience of the last game and showing us that he's made adjustments? So we're watching that closely."
The Buffalo lineup: Granato said Arttu Ruotsalainen was feeling under the weather, so he's skating today with the non-game group and will not play. That left the Sabres with an unusual-looking fourth line during the morning skate.
Your early #Sabres glimpse for tonight:Skinner-Mittelstadt-HinostrozaCaggiula-Girgensons-OlofssonPeterka-Cozens-AsplundOkposo-Thompson-Weissbach (yeah, me either)---Dahlin-JokiharjuHagg-MillerButcher-Bryson---UPL-Dell
— Mike Harrington (@ByMHarrington) October 4, 2021
Tage Thompson will get a run at center tonight after moving to the position late in Friday's loss to Pittsburgh and getting some reps in practice the last week. Thompson grew up as a center before switching to wing when he was a college player at Connecticut.
"I like all forward positions just about the same," said Thompson, who revealed Granato gave him a heads-up over the summer a look at the middle might be in the offing at camp. "It's been a while since I played center so as of right now I probably said I prefer wing a little bit better but I'm excited for the opportunity to get back in the middle and to see what happens."
Thompson recorded three shots and scored a power-play goal in the second period during a 2-1 preseason loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in KeyBank Center.
J-J Peterka and Linus Weissbach are getting another game, a clear sign they're making an impression on the coaching staff in a bid to make the opening night roster. Weissbach had three third-period points, including the game-tying goal in the final minute, as the Sabres pulled out a 5-4 shootout win last Tuesday in Columbus in the preseason opener.
"I think all the guys that remain earned the right to remain really," Granato said. "They're playing tonight. You see the lineup. It's a much older lineup and we're intrigued to see how they fit within that lineup."
The other side: Here's how the Blue Jackets lined up at their morning skate today in Columbus. Joonas Korpisalo is starting in goal and likely to play the first two periods.
#CBJ lines this morning, ahead of an evening in Buffalo:Laine-Jenner-VoracekNyquist-Sillinger-BjorkstrandChinakhov-Roslovic-BemstromRobinson-Kuraly-FoudyWerenski-BeanGavrikov-BoqvistCarlsson-PeekeKorpisalo/Tarasov
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) October 4, 2021
At 1-2 thus far in the preseason, the Sabres and their opponents have played a ton of AHL-level players to date. That is starting to change.
"It will be good. It'll be our first first real test," said Thompson. "We can't really use the excuse that it's preseason anymore. I think we got the rust out of us a little bit there in the first few preseason games. So I think now it's time to kind of put the foot on the gas here and get get ready for the regular season."
"I think every game moving forward you're just trying to improve," added defenseman Colin Miller. "The first game I think for a lot of guys it was a feeling-out process between your legs and your head and everything getting back into it. So hopefully just keep improving tonight."
