Last season’s Cinderella team will be looking to appease their always rowdy crowd with their first win of the season as the Buffalo Sabres play host to the Chicago Blackhawks in Saturday’s home opener.
The Blackhawks will be closing out a three-game road swing following a pair of thorough losses. After falling 5-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights on the NHL’s opening night and 6-0 to the Utah Mammoth on Thursday, the Blackhawks are hopeful they can right the ship before their home opener against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill didn’t hide his disappointment in his squad following Thursday’s shutout loss: “Honestly, I just don’t think we played very good, individually, and certainly collectively.”
Things won’t get any easier for the Blackhawks as the Sabres have won nine of their past 10 meetings and each of the previous six matchups.
Blackhawks defenseman Bowen Byram, who totaled 21 goals and 68 assists in 182 games over the last two-plus seasons for the Sabres, returns to Buffalo for the first time since being traded on draft day along with forward Jordan Greenway in exchange for defenseman Louis Crevier, the fourth overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft (that became Daxon Rudolph) and a second-round pick (used to select Jayden Kurtz).
While Rudolph attends the University of Denver and Kurtz suits up for the USHL’s Chicago Steel, Byram has led the Blackhawks in time-on-ice by a wide margin. He averaged 24:59 through Chicago’s first two games and posted a minus-4 plus-minus rating — tied for worst on the team.
The Sabres return home for the first time since the second round of last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs after falling 6-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in their opener on Thursday night.
Buffalo cut the deficit to 4-3 with 6:46 left in the second period thanks to a marker from rookie Konsta Helenius, but the Blue Jackets pulled away with two third-period goals.
The Sabres are hopeful they can figure out their power play in Saturday’s contest after going 0-for-5 on the man advantage against the Blue Jackets.
“A game like that with five power plays, we’re going to need to find a way to get one,” said Sabres forward Jack Quinn.
Quinn and Mattias Samuelsson also found the back of the net for the Sabres, while Owen Power and Noah Ostlund each tallied a pair of assists.
“Just a couple of breakdowns. Obviously we want a couple of those back, but no big thing,” said Buffalo forward Zach Benson. “We have 83 games left and we’re fired up to get home here in front of the Buffalo fans.”
The Sabres finished with a 26-10-5 regular-season record at the KeyBank Center last year to fuel their unexpected first-place finish in the Atlantic Division.
