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The Buffalo Sabres are enjoying their current three-game win streak, a streak that included a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings Saturday afternoon. But before Sabres fans get too giddy, we have to point out the fact that Buffalo’s win streak has come against three teams that, frankly, aren’t very good – at least, at the moment.

The streak began with a 2-0 shutout of the San Jose Sharks, a thoroughly-mediocre team that has a 7-7-1 record and an offense that ranks 26th in the league at an average of just 2.67 goals-for per game. Somehow, despite having one of the most highly-regarded collections of young talent in the league, the Sharks are a Jekyll-and-Hyde team that hasn’t had a win streak or a losing streak of more than two games. So while it was nice to see goalie Colten Ellis thrive with a shutout, it’s hardly a momentous achievement to beat San Jose.

Similarly, Buffalo’s second win in their current streak also came against a club – the Anaheim Ducks – that isn’t on anyone’s list of the better teams in the league right now. The Ducks currently sit in 12th place in the Western Conference with a 5-7-1 record that includes a 3-6-1 mark in their past 10 games. Anaheim is the NHL’s second-worst offensive team (averaging 3.85 goals-against per game), and so it’s no impressive feat for the Sabres to stick them for seven goals in a 7-6 win. Don’t get it twisted – Buffalo’s anemic offense needs all the confidence it can get, but the Sabres’ defense against the Ducks left much to be desired.

Finally, there’s Saturday’s win over the lowly Kings. Buffalo nearly blew a 2-0 lead before a third-period marker gave them a narrow win. But this is L.A. we’re talking about – a squad that’s been arguably the NHL’s most disappointing team this season. The loss to the Sabres dropped the Kings’ record to 4-7-2, and it dropped Los Angeles’ home record to 1-4-0. Again, while Buffalo will certainly be happy with the two standings points they earned Saturday, there are still some signs of trouble with this team.

We’ll have a better indication of the kind of team the Sabres are in their next half-dozen contests. Four of those six games will be against strong teams – the Ottawa Senators, Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars – so the degree of difficulty is going to rise considerably. And the other two games in their next six will be against the sub-par Columbus Blue Jackets and abysmal Chicago Blackhawks. And that means Buffalo will need to take care of business against weak teams and raise their compete level against powerful ones.

It’s Sabres coach Lindy Ruff’s job to produce consistent efforts from his group, and thus far this season, he hasn’t succeeded in that regard. But there’s no time like the present to change that. And the way Buffalo performs in the next two weeks will be the best indicator of what the Sabres are made of.

There may be another long win streak ahead for Buffalo, but we haven’t seen them win more than three in a row – and we have seen them lose three straight, in the games immediately preceding their current win streak. It’s a long season, and there are going to be highs and lows for every team. But the Sabres’ current streak of victories isn’t wowing anyone who’s really paying attention. 

And until they demonstrate they can impose their will on teams that are actually relevant, Buffalo will remain firmly in the league’s mid-tier.

For the first time in twenty-four years, the Colorado Avalanche are hosting a game on Halloween!

Tonight will be a rematch against the Calgary Flames, who have been heating up of late with five wins in their previous six games.

Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche, looking more Dr. Jekyll than Mr. Hyde, defeated the visiting New Jersey Devils by a 5-2 decision on Wednesday night, avenging their loss at the Prudential Center eight nights earlier. New Jersey, playing the second half of a back-to-back series, started goaltender Jake Allen, who gave up five goals on forty-five shots. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped twenty of twenty-two shots for his sixth win of the season.

Nicolas Roy, who had missed the previous six games with injury, returned to the lineup, registering an assist on Nazem Kadri’s go-ahead goal in the second period. Defenseman Josh Manson, however, did not finish the game. Head coach Jared Bednar announced yesterday that Manson would miss eight weeks with an ankle injury.

Manson’s absence paves the way for increased usage for defenseman Noah Juulsen. Juulsen has played eight games for Colorado this season.

It’s likely that Blackwood closes out the home stand, saving Scott Wedgewood for next week. They kick off another back-to-back pair of road games on Monday in Chicago before heading to Columbus.

MacKinnon still leads all skaters in points (22) and assists (14). Artturi Lehkonen leads the team in goals (10).

A win tonight pulls the Avs within one point of second-place Utah in the Central Division standings. The Avs won the opening game of the season series against Calgary on October 08.

Projected Lineup

Forwards:
Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Nečas
Gabe Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Nicolas Roy
Jaden Schwartz – Nazem Kadri – T.J. Hughes
Parker Kelly – Fedor Svechkov – Gavin Brindley

Defense:
Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski
Noah Juulsen – Brent Burns

Between the Pipes:
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood

Calgary Flames

Calgary’s start to the season was anything but hot: they lost six of their first seven games of the season, including the previously-mentioned 7-3 loss on home ice to Colorado on October 08. During their most recent four game homestand, however, things started to heat up. Thanks to stellar play by goaltender Devin Cooley, Calgary swept all four games, which featured victories over Minnesota, Toronto, and the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.

Unfortunately, Cooley’s heater came to an abrupt end this past Wednesday after sustaining an injury from a collision with Edmonton’s Colton Dach. Calgary wound up losing by a 4-0 decision, but rebounded last night on home ice with a 6-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken. Goaltender Dustin Wolf recorded his first win in over two weeks, saving twenty-five of twenty-seven shots against.

Calgary, who has been without left wing Jonathan Huberdeau after he underwent hip resurfacing surgery last season, is seeing injuries continue to pile up. Left wing Samuel Honzek, who last played against Colorado, is listed as week-to-week. Brennan Othmann also was injured during the Edmonton game after a fight with Ty Emberson.

With Cooley also listed as week-to-week, goaltender Arsenii Sergeev has been called up from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers to back up Wolf. Maxim Tsyplakov, who had been a healthy scratch for Calgary’s previous five games, returned to the lineup against Seattle.

Joel Farabee and Matt Coronato lead all Calgary skaters in points (14). Rookie Matvei Gridin leads the team in goals (5), while Coronato leads the team in assists (11). Right wing Adam Klapka leads all Calgary skaters in penalty minutes (37), second only to Ottawa’s Nick Cousins (42) across the League.

Tonight’s game marks the start of a three game road trip for Calgary, and is their only visit to Denver. They return home to start a three game homestand on Thursday.

Projected Lineup

Forwards:
Joel Farabee – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Aydar Suniev – Morgan Frost – Yegor Sharangovich
Matvei Gridin – Martin Pospíšil – Ryan Strome
Maxim Tsyplakov – Jonathan Castagna – Adam Klapka

Defense:
Kevin Bahl – Šimon Nemec
Jake Middleton – Zach Whitecloud
Yan Kuznetsov – Zayne Parekh

Between the Pipes:
Arsenii Sergeev

NOTE: Don’t forget to download the new SB Nation app for a more mobile-friendly way to follow tonight’s action and engage with Mile High Hockey’s match threads. Commenting and interacting with your communities is easier than ever before with the Game Chat feature. The app is currently available in the U.S. and Canada on iOS and Android devices.

BOSTON (AP) — Elias Lindholm scored in overtime as the Bruins rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to top the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 and extend Boston’s home winning streak to five games.

Mason Lohrei scored to pull Boston within a goal and Morgan Geekie’s second goal of the season with 12 seconds left in the third period sent the game into overtime.

Ryan Greene and Connor Bedard scored in the third period as the Chicago Blackhawks took a 4-2 lead. Anton Frondell had his second career two-goal game for Chicago.

The Blackhawks came into the game with the worst power play in the NHL, converting on 4 of 40 opportunities and were 0 for 11 on the power play on the road. However, it took Frondell just 11 seconds to give Chicago the lead after Will Borgen was whistled for a delay-of-game penalty.

Goaltender Michael DiPietro kept Boston in the game with key saves as the Bruins were outshot 28-13 in the first two periods. He stopped a Bedard shot from the slot with 2:09 left in the first period. Geekie, who hasn’t scored in his previous nine games, hit a shot off the post late in the first period.

David Pastrnak scored on a breakaway in the first period for his 428th career goal, passing Patrice Bergeron and moving into sole possession of third place on the Bruins’ career goal-scoring list. Casey Mittelstadt and Mason Lohrei also scored for the Bruins.

OILERS 4, ISLANDERS 0

NEW YORK (AP) — Connor McDavid extended his NHL-record season-opening assist streak to 14 games by setting up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ second goal, and Edmonton opened their road trip by beating New York.

Nugent-Hopkins scored on a power play in the third period to give McDavid his league-best 29th assist. McDavid has a big lead in points with 37 and is on pace for more than 200.

Longtime running mate Leon Draisaitl recorded a pair of assists, including a perfect skate-to-stick exchange that led to Vasily Podkolzin putting the puck into a wide open net. Ilya Sorokin similarly had little chance on Nugent-Hopkins’ shot from point-blank range off a feed from Kasperi Kapanen 68 seconds earlier.

Edmonton’s Tristan Jarry stopped all 18 shots he faced for a second consecutive shutout, and Jason Dickinson scored into an empty net to seal the victory. The Oilers have won 10 of their first 14 games this season, their first with Mike Babcock as coach.

Despite 20 saves from Sorokin, the Islanders’ winning streak ended at two games, with top defenseman Matthew Schaefer getting whistled for two of the team’s five minor penalties. Forward Emil Heineman was ejected less than 2 1/2 minutes in for a knee-on-knee hit that injured Isaac Howard, who put no weight on his left leg as he was helped off the ice and did not return.

PREDATORS 5, LIGHTNING 4, SO

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored the tying goal in regulation and the only goal of the shootout to lead Nashville to a victory over Tampa Bay.

Reid Schaefer, Adam Edstrom and Jayden Struble also scored and Justus Annunen made 22 saves in regulation and overtime for the Predators, who had lost two straight. Filip Forsberg and Nick Perbix each had a pair of assists.

Just one day after reportedly asking to be traded, Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov had three assists. John Carlson had a goal and an assist, Jake Guentzel, Victor Hedman and Conor Geekie also scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves for the Lightning, losers of three of four.

Nashville had lost their first five games that had extended past regulation this season before Saturday.

Stamkos, the former Lightning captain, made it 4-4 with a power-play goal at 7:27 of the third.

It was the 246th power-play goal of Stamkos’ career, tying him with Phil Esposito for sixth in NHL history.

BLUES 5, RED WINGS 4

DETROIT (AP) — Aleksanteri Kaskimaki scored his first career NHL goal to cap St. Louis' rally from a two-goal, third-period deficit in a victory over Detroit.

Kaskimaki tapped in an Alexey Toropchenko pass with 6:45 remaining to complete the comeback after Pavel Buchnevich and Justin Barron scored earlier in the period. The 22-year-old from Finland was playing in his 11th NHL game.

Jimmy Snuggerud scored his team-high eighth goal and Dalibor Dvorsky added the Blues’ other goal. Joel Hofer made 24 saves in the opener of St. Louis’ four-game road trip.

Lucas Raymond had a goal and an assist to lead the Red Wings. J.T. Compher and Keegan Kolesar scored the first goals of the season for Detroit. Kolesar’s goal was his first point in 14 games since he was acquired from Vegas in an offseason trade.

Emmitt Finnie added a power-play goal for the Red Wings, while John Gibson made 10 saves.

SABRES 3, KINGS 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tage Thompson scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 6:20 remaining, and Buffalo beat Los Angeles to extend their road point streak to seven games.

Jack Quinn had a goal and an assist, Zach Benson and Rasmus Dahlin each had two assists, and the Sabres won their third straight overall. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 27 saves.

Corey Perry had a power-play goal, Andre Lee also scored and Anton Forsberg stopped 28 shots for the Kings.

Thompson put the Sabres back in front on a one-timer off a pass from Quinn on a power play at 13:40 of the third period. Buffalo had controlled long stretches of the game before allowing the Kings to get back into it by taking some unnecessary penalties.

Buffalo controlled the first period but only led 1-0 on Quinn’s eighth goal when he scored on a power play at 6:35.

Even with Los Angeles gaining momentum in the second half of the second period, the Sabres made it 2-0 on Thompson’s ninth with 4:22 left.

SENATORS 5, SHARKS 1

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Tim Stützle and Dylan Cozens each had a goal and an assist and Ottawa defeated San Jose.

The Senators snapped a two-game skid and matched the franchise record for October victories with their ninth, equaling the mark set in 2007-08. Ottawa lost the first two games of a five-game trip that continues in Anaheim on Sunday.

Drake Batherson, Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto also scored for Ottawa, while Samuel Ersson made 21 saves.

Michael Misa scored the lone goal for the Sharks and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 30 shots.

Ottawa broke open a 1-1 game with three second-period goals. Batherson put the Senators ahead at 5:04 before Stützle and Greig scored 1:23 apart midway through the stanza.

Cozens opened the scoring at 13:25 of the first period, and Misa tied it at 16:06 with his third goal of the season.

_____

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Tim Stützle and Dylan Cozens each had a goal and an assist and the Ottawa Senators defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-1 on Saturday.

The Senators snapped a two-game skid and matched the franchise record for October victories with their ninth, equaling the mark set in 2007-08. Ottawa lost the first two games of a five-game trip that continues in Anaheim on Sunday.

Drake Batherson, Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto also scored for Ottawa, while Samuel Ersson made 21 saves.

Michael Misa scored the lone goal for the Sharks and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 30 shots.

Ottawa broke open a 1-1 game with three second-period goals. Batherson put the Senators ahead at 5:04 before Stützle and Greig scored 1:23 apart midway through the stanza.

Cozens opened the scoring at 13:25 of the first period, and Misa tied it at 16:06 with his third goal of the season.

Stützle finished October with nine goals and 12 assists, extending his franchise record for points in the month to 21. He finished one goal shy of Bob Kudelski’s team October record, established in 1993.

Batherson extended his point streak to seven games, scoring his ninth goal of the season. Cozens scored for the third time in two games after scoring twice in Thursday’s 6-5 overtime loss at Los Angeles.

Ersson earned his first victory of the season after entering 0-3-1. Ottawa has been without injured goaltender Linus Ullmark.

The Senators improved to 9-5-1 and split the two-game season series after losing 6-2 at home on Oct. 22.

San Jose fell to 7-7-1 and lost for the third time in four games.

Up next

Senators: At Anaheim on Sunday night.

Sharks: Host Flames on Monday night.

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See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Talk about the game with Pens fans here!

The San Jose Sharks were able to steal a win against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night and they were looking to bounce back with a more convincing performance against the Ottawa Senators in a Halloween matinee. Instead, the Sharks starred in a horror movie of their own.

Much like they did in the majority of the game against the Canucks, the Sharks looked lost for most of the night. It seemed like they had no clue what they were supposed to be doing and their play reflected that. Players were often caught out of position, puck watching, or just clueless at times. As a result, they were defeated by the Senators in very convincing fashion.

The Senators came out of the gate with an immense amount of pressure, controlling the game for quite a while in the opening minutes. The Sharks took eight minutes to get their first shot on goal, which was a dump from the neutral zone that went to Senators netminder Sam Ersson. That did seemingly start some momentum for the Sharks, as they started showing more signs of life during the middle of the period.

Despite the Sharks starting to look better, Dylan Cozens scored the game's opening goal at 13:24 of the first period. On the rush, he scored five-hole on Sharks goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who certainly would've wanted that one back.

The Sharks tied things up at 16:06 in the period, as Jacob Trouba and Kiefer Sherwood were relentless on the forecheck and forced a turnover. Trouba then found Michael Misa in front of the net, who slotted the puck past Ersson to make it a 1-1 hockey game. The Senators had quite a bit of pressure at the end of the period, but the Sharks were saved by the bell as time expired before they were able to get a go-ahead goal. 

The second period started similarly to the first, with the Senators controlling most of the play. Unsurprisingly, Drake Batherson, who has been on a heater as of late, broke the tie with his ninth goal of the season. Once again, it was a goal that Nedeljkovic would certainly want back, as it bounced off of his glove and into the back of the net. 

Tim Stutzle doubled the Senators' lead at 10:54 of the middle frame after Michael Misa was laid out in the neutral zone, giving the Senators a strong opportunity on the rush. 

The Sharks got their first power play of the night shortly after the halfway point of the game, as Fabian Zetterlund sat for a bench minor too many men penalty. 39 seconds into the power play, Ridley Greig scored Ottawa's fourth goal of the night, and his first shorthanded goal of the season, on the rush to make it a 4-1 game. 

At 3:46 in the third period, both Jacob Trouba and Sam Dickinson each took a penalty, giving the Senators a full two minutes of 5-on-3 hockey which the Sharks penalty kill was able to survive.

Shane Pinto then added an empty net goal, increasing the Senators' lead to 5-1 and securing the victory. 

It was another poor performance by the Sharks and this time they weren't able to rally enough to steal a victory from the jaws of defeat. 

As more players get healthy, more roster spots are required, but what the Philadelphia Flyers did with their latest transaction was simply the wrong move, and it sends a terrible message to the future of the team.

In anticipation of Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny returning from injured reserve, the Flyers needed to cut one player from the roster to make adequate space, with Jacob Gaucher having already been sent back to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

That one player was inexplicably Hunter McDonald, the brolic rookie defenseman whose physical play has quickly endeared him to Flyers fans, teammates, and coaches alike... or at least we thought.

McDonald, 24, filled in admirably for the Flyers in the face of injury, appearing in five games, including two of the team's three wins on the year, in a depth role on the bottom defense pair.

In his second game of the year against Buffalo, the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder laid a vicious open-ice hit on Sabres forward Ryan McLeod, prompting Mattias Samuelsson to chase him down the ice and initiate a fight.

In the third period, nursing a 3-1 lead, McDonald's physicality was valuable, as Samuelsson's instigator penalty gave the Flyers two minutes of power play time to help sand away the remaining time on the clock.

That 3-1 win was the last win of a three-game streak: the Flyers' only three wins of the season, led by the youth.

Then, in the very next game against Anaheim, McDonald did the same, taking a big chunk out of Ducks forward Sam Colangelo along the wall. Colangelo got tagged for roughing, and A.J. Greer got tagged for instigating.

The Flyers got a 5-on-3 from the pair of penalties, and Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone scored on the ensuing 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 opportunities, respectively, to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead.

Flyers Nearing Full Strength with Injured Top Forwards Set to ReturnTwo big reinforcements have entered the chat.

Of course, the Flyers eventually blew the game and lost 5-4 in regulation, but a good team seals the deal, and McDonald's play would have effectively bought them a win with those two power play goals.

This isn't a good Flyers team, though, and despite their insistence on a rebuild and a youth movement, it isn't happening.

In his brief stint with the Flyers, especially while playing in a limited role, McDonald did everything the Flyers could have reasonably expected of him.

Instead, after seemingly establishing himself in the role he will play as a full-time NHLer in the future, the Flyers demoted McDonald back to the AHL outright, while veteran journeyman Simon Benoit returns to the lineup for the first time since the aforementioned Buffalo game.

Aside from the fact that McDonald has been straight-up better than Benoit this season, the Flyers should be prioritizing NHL reps for their young players.

Seriously, they are 3-8-4 and sit 30th in the NHL with 10 points in 15 games.

Despite that fact, 22-year-old David Jiricek, if indeed a healthy scratch on Sunday vs. Utah, will sit for his fifth game in a row, and McDonald is now headed back to the AHL, where he's already over 160 total games.

McDonald's demotion sends a terrible message from the Flyers to their young players. You can do everything the coaches and the team ask, seek improvement on small details, such as fighting, and out-perform peers, but still not get rewarded because of roster politics.

The Flyers talk a lot about having to earn a spot, and how nothing is guaranteed, but actions speak louder than words, and they just showed the fans and the players themselves the exact opposite.