Wild at Sabres
The league-worst Buffalo Sabres welcome back a former captain when they host Jason Pominville and the Minnesota Wild on Monday. Pominville spent parts of his first nine seasons in the NHL with Buffalo, including two as the club's captain, before being traded to Minnesota in April. The 30-year-old, who has one tally in five games with the Wild this season, reached the 30-goal plateau twice with the Sabres - including 2006-07, when he scored a career-high 34 times.
"It'll be fun to go back, see the guys, play against guys you played with for a while," Pominville told NHL.com. The offensively challenged Sabres, who have yet to score three goals and have netted fewer than two in all but one game, still are in search of their first victory of the season. Minnesota is seeking its third straight win as it begins a four-game road trip.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN2
ABOUT THE WILD (2-1-2): Niklas Backstrom has resumed practicing with the team after suffering a strained knee last Tuesday. One sign that he could at least serve as Josh Harding's backup Monday is the fact Darcy Kuemper was assigned to Iowa of the American Hockey League after Saturday's victory over Dallas. Left wings Zach Parise and Matt Cooke have combined to score seven goals, one more than the entire Sabres team.
ABOUT THE SABRES (0-5-1): Buffalo hopes to avoid matching the longest season-opening winless streak in franchise history. The club began both the 1990-91 and 1999-2000 seasons without a victory over its first seven games. Ryan Miller is 0-4-0 despite posting a 2.29 goals-against average and .941 save percentage.
OVERTIME
1. Wild RW Justin Fontaine and D Mathew Dumba became the fourth duo in franchise history to score their first NHL goals in the same game Saturday. The last twosome to accomplish the feat was D John Scott and LW Robbie Earl on Nov. 15, 2009.
2. Buffalo RW Patrick Kaleta will sit out his second game as he waits to have an in-person hearing with the league on Tuesday for his hit on Columbus D Jack Johnson. Kaleta is suspended pending the hearing.
3. The Sabres rank 28th on the power play, converting only two of their 21 opportunities (9.5 percent).