The Buffalo Sabres (23-21-1-5)travel to Atlanta tonight to face a Thrasher’s (24-25-0-4) team that will be without their leading goal scorer, Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk has been scratched for tonight’s contest and his absence will surely be felt given that he has scored 38 goals for the Thrashers this season, which equates to more than 25% of their total goal production.

The Thrashers have won only 5 games this season when Kovalchuck does NOT score, so we have already witnessed what happens when he is held of the score sheet.

Overall, the Thrashers have been a very inconsistent team this season. They can rattle off three straight wins, then drop the next 5. They have lost 5 of their past 6 games, but did manage to beat a wounded Penguins team 2 nights ago.

Goal production has been a problem of late for the Thrashers, as they had scored only 8 goals in their previous 5 games prior to the victory over the Penguins. One of these 5 loses came at the hands of these very same Sabres, who thrashed Atlanta 10-1 just 2 weeks ago.

Hedberg will be in net for the Thrashers tonight, the same goalie who felt the burn of the goal light on his back 7 times the last time these 2 met.

The Allstar break seems to have helped the Buffalo Sabres regain some of their early season form. The Sabres had only won 2 of their past 14 games prior to the break, but have come out strong since, winning their past 2, shutting out Florida 1-0 in their latest game.

To be fair to the Sabres, they did have some significant injuries during their losing streak, but have gotten a little healthier since then. Afinaginov is a game time decision tonight for the Sabres, which would add additional firepower up front.

The Sabres' power-play will need to improve if they want to continue to taste victory. The Sabres have scored only 1 power-play goal in their past 5 games. Fortunately for the Sabres they have one of the better 5 on 5 records, for a team with a losing record. Tonight they may be able to get their power-play going, as Atlanta is ranked 28th on the penalty kill. Buffalo scored 3 power-play goals in their last meeting.

Head to head, Buffalo has won 3 of the past 5 meetings against the Thrashers over the past 2 seasons. In the 2 Atlanta victories, Kovalchuck scored in both games, and also recorded 2 assists. The Thrashers will need to come up with another hero tonight, if they want to take this one.

I would have leaned to the Sabres even with Kovalchuk in the lineup, as they seem to have played a lot better of late but without Ilya, I fancy their chances even more. The Sabres are getting healthier and will need to win these types of games to have any chance of the post season.

The Pick :