I expect the Sabres to play better, especially their first line, after dropping a 5-3 game to the Avalanche on Saturday. Buffalo was coming off its bye and was rusty.

The Sabres are fighting for a playoff spot and catch Arizona in action for the third time in four days. The Coyotes are 9-19 the past 28 times in that spot.

Buffalo has dominated this series beating Arizona in 10 of the last 12 meetings.

The Sabres catch a big break, too, in that Louis Domingue has been announced as Arizona's goalie instead of All-Star Mike Smith. I consider him to be one of the worst backup goalies in the league. Domingue is 1-8-1 in his last 10 decisions and has less than a 90 percent save percentage.