Thomas Vanek, who hasn’t played for the Sabres since Game 2 when he suffered ankle injury, will be back in the lineup for Buffalo in Monday night’s do-or-die Game 6.
Thomas Vanek Will Play Game 6 For Sabres
Thomas Vanek will be in the lineup for the Buffalo Sabres tonight.
“All indications point to him playing,” coach Lindy Ruff said before the Sabres took the ice for the 11:30 morning skate. “The only decision I can make is whether I think his conditioning will be enough to get him through a game. I think it will be. He indicated yesterday that he felt he was ready to play.”
Early Monday, SBN’s Sabres blog, Die By The Blade, went over the pros and cons of Vanek’s potential re-insertion into the lineup.
The case for Vanek playing in a limited role in this game is fairly simple. The Sabres offense needs all of the help they can get with both Tim Connolly and Derek Roy still held off the scoresheet in this series. The need for offense is there when Jason Pominville and Mike Grier are the team's leading goal scorers with two goals a piece. In Game Five, Drew Stafford played a total of nine minutes, including a handful on the power play. If Vanek were to play, he would be playing the same amount of time on the ice and also play those handful of minutes on the power play. Most Sabres fans would rather have Vanek on the power play and playing those few minutes than Drew Stafford.
And why should he sit?
Exactly how effective is Vanek going to be if he is playing at 75%? From media reports, we know that Vanek seems to have less issues skating in straight lines but still has issues stopping and turning on a dime. If Vanek is going to play in Game Six, is he going to be more of a defensive liability because he can’t move as effectively as he normally can.
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