GDT #50: Blues @ Sabres | 12:00 pm CT | ABC, ESPN+, 101 ESPN

[theohall]

BLUES The St. Louis Blues are eager to return to the ice, fresh off their 11-day break surrounding All-Star Weekend. Robert Thomas represented the franchise well among the NHL's best players, teaming up with Connor McDavid for a runner-up finish in the 3-on-3 All-Star Game tournament.

Thomas leads the Blues outright with 35 assists and 52 points, sharing the team lead with 17 goals. At this scoring rate, Thomas is on pace to reach a career-high 87 points by the end of the season.

With the Blues holding on to a tightly-contested Western Conference Wild Card Playoff spot, they will have to keep up their high level of play that they closed out the pre-All-Star Break stretch with. Aside from a 1-0 loss to Columbus in the final game before the break, the Blues had won five straight games to surge back into postseason contention.

Trailing the Top 3 in the division by at least 11 points, the Blues' focus will likely have to be on fighting back the other Wild Card contenders. Below the Blues in the standings are the Predators, even in points but down two games in hand; Calgary, down by one point; and Seattle, down by two.

Pavel Buchnevich, who had been on a cold spell in getting pucks into the net, returned to form to help spark the win streak. After scoring just one goal in the previous 13 games, Buchnevich put up four goals and two assists in three straight overtime wins against Vancouver, Seattle and Los Angeles.

The Blues begin their post-All-Star run on the road, playing three games in Eastern Conference arenas before a four-game homestand. Visiting Buffalo on Saturday afternoon, the Blues rapidly turn around to Montreal for a Sunday afternoon matchup before wrapping up the trip in Toronto.

The Blues visit Buffalo with a record of 26-21-2, worth 54 points and fourth in the Central Division.

SABRES The Buffalo Sabres ended their All-Star Break earlier than the Blues, hosting Dallas on Tuesday to start a four-game homestand. Perhaps still shaking off the rust from their nine days off, the Sabres fell 2-1 to the Stars.

Tage Thompson, who was drafted by the Blues and traded for Ryan O'Reilly, scored the lone Sabres goal. Thompson missed 10 games - including the Nov. 30 matchup in St. Louis - with an upper-body injury earlier this season. The 26-year-old forward is sixth on the team in points and fifth in scoring pace, hoping to get back to his breakout 94-point season last year.

Despite the loss to the Stars, Buffalo has had a strong run of play since 2024 began. Before a win in Montreal on Jan. 4, the Sabres were No. 27 in the NHL with 38 points on the season. Since then, their 7-5-0 record and .583 point percentage are good for No. 13.

Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin served as Buffalo's representative at the All-Star Game for the second straight year, teaming up with Robert Thomas on Team McDavid for the runner-up finish. Dahlin shares the League lead among defenseman with 13 goals, ranks No. 8 with 39 points and only trails Casey Mittelstadt for the Sabres team lead.

After Saturday afternoon's matchup with the Blues, the Sabres stay at KeyBank Center to face the Kings and Panthers.

The Sabres host the Blues with a record of 22-24-4, worth 48 points and seventh in the Atlantic Division.

HEAD TO HEAD The Blues beat the Sabres 6-4 at Enterprise Center earlier this year, led with two goals each from Brayden Schenn and Jake Neighbours. In their last 11 games against Buffalo, the Blues are 7-3-1.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Brayden Schenn, who led the Blues with three points against the Sabres on Nov. 30. The Blues' captain has 11 points in his last 10 games, including overtime winners against Vancouver and Los Angeles.

SABRES Casey Mittelstadt, leading the Sabres with 42 points this season. Mittelstadt has three points in his last three games, on pace to exceed his career-high 59 points from last season.

BLUE NOTES
The Blues posted an 8-4-1 record in January, which shared the 8th most wins in the NHL

The Blues are 20-2-0 when scoring first this season, which shares the 5th most wins in the NHL. They were the last team in the NHL to not have a loss of any kind when scoring first this season (started 12-0-0)

The Blues have scored 11 shorthanded goals this season, which shares the most in the NHL. Their 11 shorthanded goals this season are the most they have had in a season since scoring 11 in 2002-03. The last time the Blues had more than 11 shorthanded goals in a season was when they had 15 in 2000-01

Robert Thomas recorded his 200th career assist on Jan. 23 at Calgary, becoming the third Blue in franchise history to record 200+ assists prior to turning 25 (Bernie Federko & Doug Gilmour)

On Wednesday, the NHL announced the Blues will face the Blackhawks in the 2025 NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field in Chicago, which will be the Blues 3rd appearance in a Winter Classic. The Blues won their previous two appearances, a 4-1 Win on Jan. 2, 2017 vs. Chicago at Busch Stadium and a 6-4 Win on Jan. 1, 2022 at Minnesota on Target Field

[theohall]

With Buffalo already having played one game since the break and then getting 3 full days to practice, I kind of expect the Sabres to dominate this game. With the Blues coming off of a full 10 day break, too many teams playing their first game after the break have come out flat with very few exceptions. Clearly not playoff teams beating playoff teams happened often this week. As of this moment the Blues are WC2 (which is nuts) and the Sabres aren't even close.