Believe it or not the Sabres are fielding their opening night lineup for the first time since the October 15th contest (4th game of the year) against Pittsburgh. The only players that will be missing from the lineup will be Jochen Hecht and Brayden McNabb. Things should get interesting when McNabb is ready to go tomorrow. Gragnani and McCormick will be the healthy scratches tonight. Tonight the Sabres will visit the Bell Centre in an effort to begin the second half push and win back to back games for the first time since November 9th. The Habs come in with 47 points 2 ahead of the Sabres and come off a beat down of the Wings on home ice before the all star break.

Ryan Miller will man the goal for the Sabres tonight looking to tie Dominik Hasek in all time wins by a Sabres goalie. Miller will need to build on his strong performance in Newark for Buffalo to have any shot at a run to the playoffs.

Tyler Ennis will make is long awaited return to the lineup tonight, however it will not be at wing. Ennis is expected to be the pivot man on a line with Stafford and Gerbe. Ennis played center at Medicine Hat and Portland. We will see how long Ruff sticks with him in the middle. I'll take the under on the over/under 3 shifts. It also appears Luke Adam will make his return to the middle between Pominville and Vanek. This is Adam's chance to make his mark on his coach again or he will end up in Rochester very soon. The Adam's family line was one of the top lines in hockey to begin the season. I hope they regain their form.

I think Buffalo needs this one tonight because tomorrow night in Buffalo King Henrik and the 1st place Rangers will be no easy task.

Expected Lineup:

Vanek Adam Pominville

Gerbe Ennis Stafford

Boyes Roy Leino

Kaleta Gaustad Ellis

Myers-Sekera

Ehrhoff-Regher

Leopld-Weber

Miller

(Enroth)

Predicition: Hard fought battle between two desperate teams. I think a healthy Buffalo and solid Ryan Miller squeezes out a 3-2 W.