Owen Power will make his home debut when the Sabres host the St. Louis Blues tonight at KeyBank Center.
Power, the first-overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, played his first NHL game on Tuesday night in Toronto. He skated 19:50 and had a plus-2 rating in the 5-2 win over the Maple Leafs.
Tickets are available here.
Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. The puck drops at 7.
Here are five things to know.
1. Power comes home
Power remained on a defense pair with Henri Jokiharju during the morning skate, his first time on the KeyBank Center ice.
Sabres coach Don Granato said Power already seems acclimated.
“We’re speaking to him as if he’s been here the whole year,” Granato said. “He’s got a really good foundation and base under him.
“I’ve benefitted from watching him evolve as a player over the last five years, so I know he can hop right in with us, jump in meetings and internalize what we’re saying and how we want to play. He’s integrated. We’re treating him as we would anyone else.”
2. The lineup
Mattias Samuelsson did not participate in the morning skate due to a lower-body injury. Granato said the defenseman has not been ruled out for tonight.
Here’s how the group lined up in his absence:
| April 14 – Morning Skate vs. St. Louis | ||
|---|---|---|
| C | RW | |
| 53 Jeff Skinner | 72 Tage Thompson | 89 Alex Tuch |
| 74 Rasmus Asplund | 37 Casey Mittelstadt | 71 Victor Olofsson |
| 29 Vinnie Hinostroza | 24 Dylan Cozens | 15 John Hayden |
| 28 Zemgus Girgensons | 19 Peyton Krebs | 21 Kyle Okposo |
| 96 Anders Bjork | 20 Cody Eakin | |
| LD | RD | G |
| 78 Jacob Bryson | 26 Rasmus Dahlin | 41 Craig Anderson |
| 25 Owen Power | 10 Henri Jokiharju | 31 Dustin Tokarski |
| 4 Will Butcher | 45 Casey Fitzgerald | |
| 33 Colin Miller | 13 Mark Pysyk | |
Cody Eakin is considered a game-time decision after missing the past two games with an undisclosed injury. Buffalo’s starting goaltender will also be revealed during warmups.
3. Thompson looks back
Tage Thompson admitted to still feeling an extra hint of excitement for games against his former team.
“Obviously, it’s another game,” Thompson said. “We still have the same objective, same focus. But yeah, you definitely have that chip on your shoulder.”
The Sabres acquired Thompson, a first-round pick by the Blues in 2016, as part of the trade that sent Ryan O’Reilly to St. Louis in the summer of 2018.
The Blues saw early returns on the deal, winning the Stanley Cup that season while O’Reilly earned the Conn Smythe Trophy. Thompson, meanwhile, kept chipping away at his development until this season, which has seen him break out as a 30-goal centerman.
“Obviously it took a little bit longer for me to get where I’m at now,” Thompson said. “But it’s a process and I think that’s the main thing. You can’t compare yourself to other people. Everyone progresses at different paces, and I always knew I would eventually get there as long as I just kept putting in the work and stayed mentally strong through adversity. I think I did a good job of that.”
4. Thompson’s pace
Thompson has 41 points (23+18) in 41 games since Dec. 29. He scored his 33rd goal of the season against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
5. Scouting the Blues
St. Louis has won its last six contests and is 8-1-1 in its last 10. Goaltender Ville Husso won his seventh straight start with a 39-save performance against Boston on Tuesday.
The Blues deploy a balanced lineup that features a league-best seven players with 20-plus goals. That group could soon have an eighth member in forward Robert Thomas, who is currently riding a 10-game point streak and has 18 goals this season.
“They’re big, physical,” Granato said. “I mean, their lineup, their average size is probably one of the top, in the league and they like to play that and use that card.”