Sabres take on Caps with barebones blue line

Like the great DJ Khaled once said "another one!"

When the Sabres take on the Capitals Monday night, they'll have another (new) one in the lineup -- this time it's 27-year-old Erik Burgdoerfer.

He'll make his NHL debut to replace Taylor Fedun, who is day to day to win a shoulder injury. Fedun was called up from Rochester earlier in the year, like so many other players on the Sabres roster.

Oh by the way, only Rasmus Ristolainen, Cody Franson and Jake McCabe were in the Sabres opening night lineup.

So who exactly is Erik Burgdoerfer? He's a journeyman defenseman who signed a two way contract with the Sabres in the offseason. In 22 games with Rochester this season he has seven points, all of which are helpers, and has a minus-six rating. Don't expect him to get a ton of ice time in his NHL debut, he'll be paired with Justin Falk, who also started the season in Rochester.

Guhle, Guhle, Guhle

Brendan Guhle will likely see big minutes in only his second professional game -- just like we thought.

On Saturday Guhle made a great first impression, registering four shots in his NHL debut. The 19-year-old defenseman looked solid at both ends of the ice, and was arguably Buffalo's best blue-liner. Expect even more of Guhle on Monday because of the Sabres continued injury woes. 

Contain 'The Great 8'

Less than two weeks ago the Sabres played the Capitals for the first time this season. Buffalo fell behind two goals late in the third, but managed to cut the deficit in half with a Sam Reinhart goal.

The Sabres eventually lost 3-1, but one of the few bright spots in that game was how the Sabres contained Alex Ovechkin. If Buffalo is going to win on Monday they'll need to do the same because as we've seen so many times, Ovechkin can take over a game in the blink of an eye.