With two wins under their belt at KeyBank Center, the Buffalo Sabres now begin the road portion of their exhibition play, starting Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena

The Sabres have outscored the opposition by a 13-4 margin over the team’s first two preseason games. Last night saw Buffalo top Columbus, 6-1. Peyton Krebs and Zach Benson each tallied goals and an assist, while Devon Levi stopped 25 of 26 shots to secure the win.

Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. Here’s what you need to know ahead of the action.

How to watch

Stream: Sabres.com

Listen: WGR 550

Tonight’s roster

Forwards (13): 41 Ty Cheveldayoff, 44 Joshua Dunne, 94 Konsta Helenius, 49 Mason Jobst, 52 Aleksandr Kisakov, 57 Brett Murray, 54 Olivier Nadeau, 36 Noah Ostlund, 63 Isak Rosen, 67 Graham Slaggert, 59 Tyler Tullio, 92 Anton Wahlberg, 42 Brendan Warren

Defensemen (7): 33 Ryan Johnson, 76 Vsevolod Komarov, 46 Noah Laaouan, 73 Zach Metsa, 91 Nikita Novikov, 5 Ethan Prow, 3 Jack Rathbone

Goaltenders (2): 31 Michael Houser, 34 Scott Ratzlaff

Storylines

1. A tale of two teams

The Sabres will divide their 57-man training camp roster across two squads, with a group of players traveling overseas to begin the NHL Global Series later this week in Munich, Germany, while the other half of the roster remains in North America. The North American Sabres will play three road games over the next five nights, beginning with Pittsburgh tonight. The team will then face Ottawa (Thursday) and Columbus (Saturday) to round out the week.

Among those remaining stateside are Konsta Helenius, Isak Rosen, Noah Ostlund, and Ryan Johnson; four first-round draft picks and all of which are looking to make their preseason debuts on Tuesday.

Buffalo will see much of its AHL affiliate present in tonight’s game, with 16 players traveling with this group having been on the Rochester Americans’ roster a season ago, including Rosen and Mason Jobst, who co-led Rochester in scoring with 50-point campaigns in 2023-24.

2. In goal

The Sabres will choose between prospect Scott Ratzlaff or veteran Michael Houser to take the crease in Pittsburgh. Ratzlaff is coming off his third full season with Seattle in the Western Hockey League (WHL). He finished fifth in games played (52) last season and was one of 17 WHL goaltenders to reach 20 wins on the year. He has been a presence throughout the offseason, taking part in both Sabres Development Camp as well as the Prospects Challenge.

Houser, 32, is entering his seventh season in the Sabres’ pipeline after being signed to an AHL contract in the offseason. He is 4-2 in six NHL regular season starts between 2020 and 2022, including two appearances against Pittsburgh in May of 2021. The Youngstown, Ohio native has 195 career wins across the ECHL, AHL, and NHL.

3. A peek at the Pens

Jesse Puljujarvi netted a hat trick for Pittsburgh on Saturday in the team’s 7-3 loss to the Sabres, but the Penguins have been idle since their trip to KeyBank Center. Pittsburgh’s start to the preseason looks much lighter than that of Buffalo’s, with the team skating in just three games over the first eight days of exhibition play.

Prior to the preseason, the Penguins spent a weekend in Buffalo as part of the 2024 NHL Prospects Challenge, where they went 3-0, including an 8-5 win against the Sabres. In that game, Avery Hayes struck for a hat trick and registered five points (3+2). He is expected in Pittsburgh’s lineup, which will feature a mix of rookies and established NHL talent on offense, including Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass, Anthony Beauvillier, and Noel Acciari.