Sabres at Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville summed up the season-opening shootout win at Dallas on a lighthearted note by telling reporters to "call the cops" because his team stole two points from the Stars. Should the Blackhawks need to resort to such thievery again in their home opener against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night, Quenneville may not be in a joking mood. Chicago has won the past five matchups versus Buffalo and has not lost at home to the Sabres since January 2007.
Buffalo owned the worst record in the league in 2013-14 and scored only 150 goals, the lowest total since the NHL expanded in 1967. The Sabres ended last season on a seven-game losing streak, scoring a total of 12 goals, and showed little had changed in a 3-1 loss to visiting Columbus in their season opener. "It was almost one of those deer-in-the-headlights looks,” coach Ted Nolan said. "Hopefully this is just one of those jittery games we get out of our system and move forward.”
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, MSG (Buffalo), CSN Chicago
ABOUT THE SABRES (0-1-0): Rookie center Sam Reinhart, the No. 2 overall pick in this year's draft, had a rocky introduction to the NHL by failing to record a shot on goal while losing 11-of-15 faceoffs, prompting Nolan to tinker with his lines during Friday's practice. Reinhart will center Marcus Foligno and Chris Stewart while Zemgus Girgensons moves into Reinhart's slot between Cody Hodgson and Brian Gionta. "Give the young kid a safety net around him with those two guys and get Gionta and Cody some speed in the middle,” Nolan said. “Girgensons was by far our best player (Thursday) night.”
ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (1-0-0): Goaltender Corey Crawford stole the show for Quenneville with 32 saves and was immense in the opening two periods, when Chicago was outshot by a stunning 24-11 count. “The first two periods weren’t very pretty, and obviously not the way you want to come out and start a season,” said forward Patrick Kane, who pulled out the victory with the decisive tally in the shootout. “That was an ugly 40 minutes.” Kane, a native of Buffalo, has been a thorn in the side of his hometown team with three goals and two assists during the current five-game winning streak - including tallies in each of last season's 2-1 victories.
OVERTIME
1. Crawford is 4-0-0 with a 1.75 goals-against average in four career starts versus Buffalo.
2. Sabres G Jhonas Enroth has surrendered eight goals in losing both his starts to Chicago.
3. Blackhawks LW Patrick Sharp, who had a goal and an assist in the opener, missed practice Friday but is expected to play.