The Buffalo Sabres playoff fortunes may rest on the next two weeks and how they fare on the road, as the club began a stretch of eight of their next 10 on the road with a 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday. With the exception of a 31 -second stretch after Jason Zucker’s goal in the third period, the Penguins throughout, ending the Sabres two-game winning streak. 

"Our puck play cost us dearly, cost us on the first goal, our puck play right after we got back in the game and tied it up," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. "We didn't handle the puck well, gave it away, didn't execute the breakout and then ended up in the back of their net."

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The Sabres have only one victory (a 5-4 overtime win over Detroit on November 15 in which they trailed 4-1 in the third period) and two overtime losses to Toronto and Boston in nine road games this season. After their Black Friday afternoon home game against New Jersey, the Sabres play seven of their next eight games on the road against Minnesota, Philadelphia, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Seattle and 10 of their 14 December games away from KeyBank Center.  

One reason for optimism may be that Buffalo is getting most of their injured players back. Jason Zucker and Zach Benson returned in the last week, and center Josh Norris may return to action this weekend, lowering the number of players on IR to just three (Michael Kesselring, Jiri Kulich, and Justin Danforth).  Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed three goals on just 18 shots, so it is likely we will see either Alex Lyon or Colten Ellis get the start against the Devils.  

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