Based on games the teams played Thursday Alex Killorn Jersey Kids , indications are that the red lights behind the goals will be flashing frequently on Saturday afternoon at KeyBank Center.The Vancouver Canucks and the Buffalo Sabres scored a combined 14 goals while allowing 10 in their victories over the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens, respectively, on Thursday.“In preseason, people didn’t think we were going to be that high scoring of a team, but we keep proving people wrong and that’s what we need to continue to do,” Canucks center Bo Horvat said after scoring two goals and adding two assists in the 8-5 win over the Bruins.Article continues below ...The Canucks, who are 4-0-1 in their past five games, will be making the third stop on a six-game trip Saturday.The Sabres (8-6-2) are coming off a 6-5 overtime win over the Canadiens after they trailed 5-4 after two periods.“We’ve got a very resilient group and we’ve shown it,” Sabres coach Phil Housley said. “Our third period was our best period there. We kept coming, had terrific looks. In OT, it wasn’t the way we planned it to get it http://www.tampabaylightningteamshop.com/authentic-andrei-vasilevskiy-jersey , but it worked out well for us.”The game Saturday will be their first at home since last Saturday when the defeated the Ottawa Senators 9-2. On Sunday, they lost 3-1 to the Rangers in New York. The Canucks (10-6-1) have scored 26 goals in their past five games. Loui Eriksson had two goals and an assist against the Bruins.“I had some puck luck (Thursday) probably,” Eriksson said. “We know we have some young guys playing, and they are still learning, but they are handling their situations and responding well.”Canucks coach Travis Green said, “I’m happy with our group. We’re finding ways to score goals and get production from everywhere, which you need. I’ve said that a lot. You’re never excited when you give up five, but man, that was an exciting game. … (Horvat) has been carrying a heavy load for quite a bit and I like the way he’s playing now. It’s what we envisioned.“He’s able to produce and go against top centermen and that’s what we’ve talked about his game progressing and evolving to the player he’ll eventually be.”Canucks right winger Brock Boeser did not accompany the Canucks to Buffalo. He returned to Vancouver to see a specialist because of a groin injury that has kept him from the past two games.“He has gotten better, but he can’t quite get over the hump, so we want to make sure Anton Stralman Jersey , and we’ll see what comes out of it,” said Green, who thinks that Boeser could rejoin the team during the trip.The Canucks will face a Sabres team that believes it can improve on the effort on Thursday.“There’s a lot of good things to talk about and there’s a lot of (areas) that we were very sloppy,” Housley said. “You look at the game itself, it was just uncharacteristic. A lot of guys were just off their game a little bit. We didn’t look clean.“Our executing wasn’t very good. At the same time, we’re down 5-4 in the third period in somebody else’s building. We find a way to tie it up and win it in overtime. We’ve got to recognize some things we’ve got to buckle down, but I give our guys a lot of credit for battling through that and finding a way to win.”Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen scored the winning goal in overtime.“That was a pretty bad game,” Ristolainen said. “You can’t have those games. But I think this game is going to make us tighter. We’re going to grow as a group here. We got a pretty ugly win. Grind it out, big two points and learn from it.”The Sabres are 4-2-1 at home and the Canucks are 5-4-1 on the road. DENVER (AP) Nathan MacKinnon was given a day off from practice, which created a little stir on social media.Turns out, nothing to fear. The Colorado Avalanche just wanted to give their top scorer and Hart Trophy candidate a little rest Monday before embarking on the postseason.Not many gave this team much of a chance to make the playoffs at the beginning of the year. Understandably so considering they were coming off a 48-point season. But here the Avalanche are Womens Brayden Point Jersey , about to face the top-seeded Predators in the first round beginning Thursday in Nashville.Colorado is rested, rejuvenated and carries a surge of momentum after needing to win its final game to secure its first postseason spot since 2013-14.”We expect a lot from our group and know we can surprise a lot of people,” said captain Gabriel Landeskog, whose team finished the regular season with 95 points and matched the franchise record for wins at home with 28. ”This is when the fun begins.”The type of turnaround the team has made doesn’t happen that often in the NHL world. The last time it occurred over an 82-game season was when Pittsburgh also improved by 47 points from 2005-06 (58) to `06-07 (105).”We didn’t expect this in October, but as the season progressed our confidence grew and grew,” MacKinnon said recently after finishing with 39 goals and 58 assists to wind up fifth in scoring. ”For the last month we expected to make the playoffs. For it to actually happen is very satisfying.”The turning point for coach Jared Bednar was in early December, when his squad wrapped up a 1-4 homestand. A similar thing happened a year earlier and it sent the team into an unrecoverable downward spiral.This time, it was different. The Avs found some traction and at the end of the month began a streak of 10 straight wins.”The way (the players) handled that and responded there … starts making you a believer,” Bednar said. ”At that point, it became pretty clear we weren’t the same group and we’d push to the end of this thing.”Still, they needed a 5-2 win over St. Louis in game No. 82 Braydon Coburn Jersey , a winner-take-all affair, to secure their spot. For Bednar, it was one of his team’s best performances of the season.”I want our guys to have fun, embrace it and enjoy it,” Bednar said. ”But I want us to dig in and be highly competitive.”Colorado will be without two key players for this series – defenseman Erik Johnson and goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who are both sidelined by knee injuries. Not only that, but the team has struggled this season against the Predators, going 0-3-1 and being outscored by a 17-8 margin.”It’s not going to be an easy series. But if you want to get farther, you have to beat the best team and we start with the best team,” goaltender Jonathan Bernier said.Avalanche players Colin Wilson, Gabriel Bourque and Samuel Girard all stepped up at a recent meeting and chatted about their ties with Nashville. They offered a little insight into the team they’re about to face.”They all had some good things to say about their personnel Joakim Nordstrom Jersey Womens ,” Bednar said. ”We have a lot of input from those guys.”The Avalanche relish in the fact that just a year ago Nashville was the second wild-card team in the Western Conference and advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup final. They wouldn’t mind following that sort of path.”It’s possible. It’s the playoffs. Anything can happen,” Landeskog said. ”It’s just a matter of taking it one day at a time, enjoying the journey and making sure you bring your best game at the best time.”Bednar was asked if he thought there might be concerns over his team being content to merely be in the playoffs.”They’re a hungry group. They want more,” Bednar said. ”I don’t mind being the underdog. It’s a good spot for our team. We’ve been feeling that way all year long, that we were an underdog to get into the playoffs. We’re here.”—