BUFFALO – Fresh off two exhibition wins in which they dressed a regular-season lineup and throttled the competition, the Sabres will use minor leaguers for tonight’s road game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Later today, about 25 or so Sabres will leave for the team’s season-opening trip to Europe. Meanwhile, the rest of the training camp roster will stay in Buffalo and complete the preseason schedule.
So tonight’s roster is filled with AHL and ECHL talent. Most notably, centers Konsta Helenius and Noah Ostlund, two first-round picks, will make their NHL preseason debuts. Goalie Michael Houser, a Pittsburgh native, will start.
Tonight’s Sabres lineup is below. The Penguins’ roster mostly features minor leaguers. Superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin won’t play. The Sabres throttled a weak Penguins lineup 7-3 on Saturday.
Forwards: Helenius, Ostlund, Ty Cheveldayoff, Josh Dunne, Mason Jobst, Aleksandr Kisakov, Brett Murray, Olivier Nadeau, Isak Rosen, Graham Slaggert, Tyler Tullio, Anton Wahlberg and Brendan Warren.
Defense: Ryan Johnson, Vsevolod Komarov, Noah Laaouan, Zach Metsa, Nikita Novikov, Ethan Prow and Jack Rathbone.
Goalies: Houser and Scott Ratzlaff.