Sabres at Coyotes

This is a matchup of surprises this season. The Buffalo Sabres will bring the best goaltender this season to the desert to take on a very good home team in the Phoenix Coyotes. This is an interesting matchup with a great road team in the Sabres with a 13-6-1 road record facing off against the Coyotes who are 18-7-2 at home this season, despite the leagues worst attendance.

Obviously the goaltenders are the story in this game. The probable starters are Ryan Miller and Illya Bryzgalov and both are having career years. The Sabres have been paying great team defense only allowing 102 goals and Miller posting a 2.01 GAA. These numbers combined with a good road team can be very disruptive for the Coyotes tonight. The thing that concerns me with the Sabres is that they give up a lot of shots on goal and they really make Miller work for his wins, but if he gets into a rythym, he cannot be scored on by anybody, including a weak offensive team like the Coyotes.

For the Coyotes, they need to go back to what has made them successful this season, and that is good defense. The Coyotes have been struggling with getting the puck out from deep in the defensive zone and they will have to be smart with the puck deep in the defensive zone or else the Sabres balanced lines will tear up the Coyotes around the net. If Bryzgalov is not sharp tonight and the Coyotes let up on defense, he will have a long night infront of him.

I am picking the Sabres tonight and for Miller to stay hot as he continues to make his case as the starting Olympic goalie for team USA come February in Vancouver.