The Buffalo Sabres 2025-26 season has been defined by their chronic inconsistency. The club, through 28 games, has not managed anything longer than a two-game winning streak, and quickly stages a retreat after making some marginal progress. The Sabres posted consecutive victories over Minnesota and Winnipeg before heading out on a six-game road swing that will likely determine whether they remain competitive for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference or not. 

After starting with an underwhelming performance in a 5-2 loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday, the Sabres met the Jets for the second time this week and came out on the short end 4-1. Jason Zucker scored the only Buffalo goal, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed three goals on just 22 shots for his fourth loss of the season, while former Sabre Eric Comrie rebounded from being pulled on Monday with a 34-save victory on home ice. 

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"If you look at some of those opportunities in the second period, where we had loose pucks right around their net twice, I thought we got outbattled on an opportunity to put a puck in an empty net." Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said after the game. "We've got one even-strength goal (in the) last six periods of play. You're not going to win any road game if you don't score five-on-five." 

The loss has the Sabres tied with Florida at the buttom of the Eastern Conference at 26 points. A big part of that lies in their inability to score and keep the puck out of their net away from KeyBank Center. At home, Buffalo has the seventh-best home record at 9-5-2, but on the road, they are 2-8-2, with just 29 goals scored and 51 allowed. Their -22 goal differential is also the worst in the league.  

The club continues their road swing in Calgary against Flames on Monday. 

Follow Michael on X, Instagram  @MikeInBuffalo

There are a number of former Buffalo Sabres players scattered throughout the NHL, having a varied level of success this season. Periodically, we will check in to see how their players are faring. Today we start with ex-Sabres playing for the eight teams in the Central Division. The Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals do not have any former Buffalo players currently on their roster, but here are those on the other six clubs.

Carolina

Taylor Hall, Eric Robinson, William Carrier, Mark Jankowski - F: The 34-year-old former Hart Trophy winner is playing for his seventh NHL club and will likely finish out his NHL career in Carolina after signing a three-year extension last April with a no-movement clause. Hall has 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) in 26 games. Robinson, Carrier, and Jankowski each spent one season in Buffalo, and all are serving in depth roles for the Hurricanes. Robinson has five goals in 20 games, while Carrier and Jankowski each have one goal this season. 

NY Rangers

Conor Sheary - F, Will Borgen - D: The veteran winger played two seasons with Buffalo before being traded back to Pittsburgh in 2020. After stops in Tampa and Washington, Sheary was signed to a PTO and earned a one-year contract to play for former Pens coach Mike Sullivan. In 26 games as a checking forward, the 33-year-old has six assists. Borgen played parts of two seasons with Buffalo before being claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft. After four seasons with the Kraken, he was traded to Broadway for Kaapo Kakko. In 22 games for the Rangers, the 28-year-old has four points (2 goals, 2 assists).

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Philadelphia

Nicolas Deslauriers - F, Rasmus Ristolainen - D: The veteran enforcer played his first four seasons with Buffalo before stops in Montreal, Anaheim, and Minnesota, before settling in with Philadelphia. The 34-year-old has played primarily on the fourth line for 12 games and has no points and 17 penalty minutes.  Ristolainen has been out all season recovering from an upper-body injury, but has been on the ice in recent weeks and is hoping to get back in the Flyers lineup before New Year’s. 

Follow Michael on X, Instagram  @MikeInBuffalo

The tides are beginning to turn for the Nashville Predators toward the end of 2025, as they have won four of their last five games and are on a back-to-back streak. 

Thursday, they knocked off the Florida Panthers, 2-1, in overtime for their first victory over the Panthers since the 2023-24 season. Steven Stamkos had the game-winning goal, which was his fourth goal in five games. 

The Predators face a hefty task on Saturday in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes to extend their winning streak.

Here is everything you need to know for the Predators Saturday evening tilt. 

Game info

Who: Nashville Predators (10-13-4, 8th Central) at Carolina Hurricanes (16-8-2, 2nd in Metropolitan) 

When: 6 p.m. CST 

Where: Lenovo Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 

TV: FanDuel Sports Network South 

Radio: 102.5 The Game 

Line (via BetMGM): Predators (+1.5) Hurricanes (-1.5). Over/under 6 (-110/-110)

Penalty slayers

The Predators' penalty kill has been impressive all season, but it arguably had its best showing in the win against the Panthers. The unit killed off 6-of-6 penalties en route to the victory. 

The performance was so impressive that Steven Stamkos, who scored the game-winner, gave the team's postgame award to the entire PK unit. Nashville's penalty kill is now tied for 10th in the NHL at 82.1%, killing off 69-of-84 penalties. 

The effort is even more impressive considering that Cole Smith, one of the unit's top killers, has been out for the last two weeks. In addition, the Predators have been taking fewer penalties compared to the last few seasons. 

Nashville has 232 penalty minutes, which ranks 19th in the league. Usually, the Predators are one of the league leaders in that category. The Predators have dropped the gloves only six times so far. At this time last year, there had been 10. 

O'Reilly picking up speed

Ryan O'Reilly has been rock-steady for the Predators all season, but has really begun to pick up momentum over the last few games. He has eight points in the last five games after failing to record a point in the previous four games.

He leads the Predators in scoring, sitting at 21 points. O'Reilly had multi-point performances against the Red Wings (three points), Blackhawks (two points), and Panthers (two points). He's truly been living up to his nickname, Factor, over the last few games. 

Adding in Steven Stamkos' recent success, recording six points in the last five games, it seems that the Predators are finally finding an offensive identity. Nashville has also scored four goals or more in three of its last five games. 

Calming the storm 

The Hurricanes have consistently been one of the best teams in the NHL over the past few seasons, but the Predators have their number in the regular season, winning five of their last six against Carolina. 

In their last meeting, on March 26 in Raleigh, Luke Evangelista scored twice and Juuse Saros recorded his 200th career win, making 34 saves in a 3-1 victory. It's a matchup the Predators have dominated even if both teams are in different spots in the standings. 

Unlike Nashville, Carolina has struggled as of late, dropping three of its last five, including a 5-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. Toronto had a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period before it scored three unanswered goals. 

The Hurricanes are still one of the better teams in the league, sitting at second in the Metropolitan Division with 34 points. Seth Jarvis is tied for 10th in goals with 16 in 26 games played. 

Inactive players 

Nashville: Justin Barron (lower body, injured reserve), Ozzy Weisblatt (upper body, injured reserve), Nick Perbix (upper body, day-to-day), Zach L'Heureux (lower body, injured reserve), Cole Smith (upper body, injured reserve). 

Carolina: K'Andre Miller (illness, questionable), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (ankle, injured reserve), Jaccob Slavin (lower body, injured reserve), Pyotr Kochetkov (lower body, day-to-day), Charles-Alexis Legault (hand, injured reserve). 

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins continued their winning ways over Lehigh Valley on Friday night. 

WBS defeated Lehigh Valley 6-2 and got contributions from all over the lineup. Aidan McDonough, Avery Hayes, Tristan Broz, Sam Poulin, Danton Heinen, and Atley Calvert all scored in the win. Sergei Murashov was also great in goal, stopping 34 of 36 shots. 

Murashov has been lights out since the Pittsburgh Penguins sent him back to WBS, showing why he has a bright future in the organization. He made his NHL debut back on Nov. 9 against the Los Angeles Kings and played in four games before the Penguins sent him back. In those four games, he had a .913 save percentage and a 1.90 goals-against average. 

He has played in 10 games for WBS this year, compiling a 1.73 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage. 

Heinen, McDonough, and Broz were named the three stars of the game. Heinen finished with a goal and an assist, McDonough had a goal and two assists, and Broz had a goal and an assist. 

⭐️ Danton Heinen (1G, 1A)
⭐️⭐️ Aidan McDonough (1G, 2A)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Tristan Broz (1G, 1A) pic.twitter.com/xImTPc5jnZ

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) December 6, 2025

Broz made his NHL debut on Nov. 26 against the Buffalo Sabres before he was sent back to WBS a few days later. He was close to making the NHL roster out of training camp and was one of the final cuts. If he keeps up his strong play, it won't be long until he gets a second NHL look. 

McDonough has also enjoyed a nice season, racking up four goals and 14 points in 21 games. It's his first season with the organization after he was signed over the summer. 

Hayes now has six goals and 12 points in 16 games and could also get a call-up to the big squad later in the season. Like Broz, he was really close to making the NHL team out of camp. 

WBS is now 16-5-1 and has 33 points through 22 games. They are in first place in the Atlantic Division, one point up on the Providence Bruins. WBS will be back in action on Saturday against the Hershey Bears, another top rival. 

The game will start at 7 p.m. ET.

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The St. Louis Blues enter their matchup on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators 30th in the NHL in goal scoring (2.54 goals per game) and scoring two or fewer in nine of the past 10 games.

They’ve scored a grand total of 19 the past 10 games (1.9 per game), with the line game they’ve scored more than two: the Senators, who the Blues beat 4-3 in come-from-behind fashion on Nov. 28.

And in an ever-changing lineup for the Blues (9-12-7) where consistency seems to be a monumental task of achieving, the coaching staff continues to search for combinations that they hope get them out of the doldrums of scoring. But when you're also 29th in goals against (3.50) per game, it makes it awfully tough to secure wins, and the Blues are the only team in the league with single-digit wins at this point of the season.

Saturday was an optional skate, but according to the team, there will be changes throughout the forward group (listed below).

The only actual lineup change will be Matthew Kessel going back in on defense for Tyler Tucker, and with the Blues set for a back-to-back this weekend, including a Sunday night game against the Montreal Canadiens, Joel Hofer will get the start on Saturday, with Jordan Binnington then slated to go on Sunday.

The Blues’ come-from-behind win against the Senators was their only one of the season when trailing after two periods, when they were down 2-1 and rallied to score three in the third, a rarity of scoring more than one goal in a period of late.

It'll be the second of a three-game trip after a poor loss Thursday against the Boston Bruins, 5-2.

- - -

Blues Projected Lineup:

Jake Neighbours-Robert Thomas-Pavel Buchnevich

Dylan Holloway-Dalibor Dvorsky-Jordan Kyrou

Pius Suter-Brayden Schenn-Nick Bjugstad

Aleksanteri Kaskimaki-Oskar Sundqvist-Mathieu Joseph

Philip Broberg-Colton Parayko

Matthew Kessel-Justin Faulk

Cam Fowler-Logan Mailloux

Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Tyler Tucker and Matt Luff.Jimmy Snuggerud (wrist), Alexey Toropchenko (leg burns) and Nathan Walker (upper body) are out.

- - -

Senators Projected Lineup:

Brady Tkachuk-Tim Stutzle-Fabian Zetterlund

David Perron-Dylan Cozens-Drake Batherson

Michael Amadio-Ridly Greig-Claude Giroux

Nick Cousins-Stephen Halliday-Hayden Hodgson

Jake Sanderson-Artem Zub

Tyler Kleven-Jordan Spence

Nikolas Matinpalo-Nick Jensen

Linus Ullmark will start in goal; Leevi Merilainen will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Kurtis MacDermid and Dennis Gilbert. Thomas Chabot (upper body), Lars Eller (undisclosed) and Shane Pinto (lower body) are out.

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