Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Minnesota Wild (2-1-2) and winless Buffalo Sabres (0-5-1) clash live from the First Niagara Center in Buffalo. The game can be live streamed here. Minnesota fans can hear all the bone-crunching action by adjusting their radios to KFXN-FM 100.3 while Buffalo fans can access it on WGR 550 AM.
As Buffalo searches for its first win, it welcomes its former captain as Jason Pominville and the Wild come to town and Pominville will play in Buffalo as a visitor for the first time in his career after spending parts of nine seasons with the Sabres. Pominville has just one goal and one point on the season so far.
Pominville donned a Sabres jersey for the first 578 games of his career and notched 185 goals and 271 assists for 456 points before Pominville was shipped off to Minnesota last season as Buffalo looks to rebuild. Pominville then signed a five-year $28 million extension this past summer to stay in Minnesota.
"It was kind of 'Bang-bang, you're out of here,'" Pominville told NHL.com when asked about being traded. "I didn't even go down to the arena to get my gear; our trainer, we met somewhere and he brought it to me. I was always treated real well [in Buffalo], so it'll be nice to see everyone again."
Pominville will have some mixed emotions when he visits Buffalo for the first time. After dropping its first three games in a row, Minnesota has rattled off two straight wins and embarks on a four-game road trip and tonight will be the first game of a back-to-back for the team as it plays the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night.
The Sabres, meanwhile, enter play in the Eastern Conference basement, having earned just one point of a possible 12 to start the season during an overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 8.
"We've had a handful of games so far where it's been all different situations or ways to put ourselves in a bad situation," goalie Ryan Miller told NHL.com following the team's 2-1 road loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night. "Tonight it was the penalties. It just left the first period as us having to defend, run around and waste energy."
Miller is winless on the year having gone 0-4-0 this season while allowing nine goals and stopping 144 of 153 shots he's faced, bringing his GAA to 2.19 and his save percentage to .941.
While Buffalo has overall been cold, Cody Hodgson and Thomas Vanek have had a soaring start to the season as Hodgson leads the team with five points off a goal and four assists while Vanek leads the team with two goals to go along with two assists and four points. Minnesota has been paced by Matt Cooke who has three tallies and two assists for five points, while Zach Parise has four goals through the first five games.
In net for Minnesota, Niklas Backstrom has allowed eight goals on 53 shots while turning away 43 chances against him.
The Sabres will look to notch their first win while the Wild will look to earn another win in Pominville's Buffalo homecoming when these two teams faceoff tonight.
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