Sabres At Blues Game Preview: Lehtera, Ott, Kane To Play Tonight

Those of you who have the Blues' official app probably got this notification this afternoon:

Reinforcements are coming. Steve Ott is back.

Believe it or not, there is no sarcasm in that statement. Any bit of stability the Blues' line-up can get currently is a plus. They've been tired, they haven't looked sharp, and let's face it, their play recently has been disappointing. Ott returning, and Jori Lehtera being in tonight are steps to prevent tonight's game against the Buffalo Sabres from being a rough one. The Sabres are 6-3 in their last ten, and have been playing really strong hockey under new coach Dan Bylsma, who has coached the youth of the team to a pretty successful season so far. It also helps that Evander Kane is ahead of schedule in returning from a MCL injury that had him scheduled to be out for four weeks.

He will, of course, make his return tonight against the Blues.

Will Colton Parayko? Unfortunately, no.  His playing tonight would've been a great help, since Kane skated today in practice with Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart, creating a potentially dangerous line.

Jake Allen is back in net despite a solid showing from Brian Elliott in the Blues 3-1 loss to the Blue Jackets. He'll be facing off against Linus Ullmark, who has been solid and a large reason that the Buffalo Sabres have had a good run as of late.