PITTSBURGH – The Buffalo Sabres open a three-game road trip on Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

The Sabres are looking to build on a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers at home on Saturday, their first win of the season. Alex Tuch had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to three games.

The puck drops at 7 p.m. Here’s what you need to know in the meantime.

How to watch

TV (nationally): TNT, truTV

Streaming (nationally): Max

Radio: WGR 550

Click here for more ways to watch Sabres games.

Storylines

1. The lineup

JJ Peterka practiced again on Tuesday and has not been ruled out after missing the last two games with a concussion.

“JJ had a good day,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said after practice. “So, really hopeful he plays tomorrow.”

Peterka sustained his concussion as the result of an open-ice hit from New Jersey defenseman Brenden Dillon on Oct. 5. He has been practicing with the team consistently since Oct. 9.

Stay tuned for lineup updates from the Sabres’ morning skate, which is scheduled for 11 a.m.

2. Let’s get physical

The Sabres have made it a point to be harder to play against dating back to the offseason, when they brough in Ruff as coach and added a trio of hard hitters to the roster in Beck Malenstyn, Sam Lafferty, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel. They doubled down on that initiative with hard, competitive practices throughout training camp and the start of the season.

The early returns have been apparent. The Sabres rank second in the NHL with an average of 28.00 hits per 60 minutes. Their 112 total hits are tied for fourth.

Malenstyn is tied for ninth in the league with 14 hits, one of four Sabres in double digits along with Jordan Greenway (12), Mattias Samuelsson (11), and Dylan Cozens (10).

Ruff has discussed in recent days how the mandate for physicality doesn’t mean running around and chasing hits (though it does involve finishing checks when the opportunity presents itself). It’s more so about using physicality to kill plays defensively and get moving in transition.

“We talk about everybody physically getting involved,” Ruff said. “Like, cutting people off in the neutral zone, getting in front of people, ending plays in the D-zone. I like what we’ve done in the D-zone where we’re getting out quickly, and it starts with physically engaging with your guy in the corner.”

3. Scouting the Penguins

Pittsburgh bounced back from a 6-0 loss to open its season by taking two out of three games on its recent road trip, thanks in large part to the play of Evgeni Malkin.

Malkin enters Wednesday tied for the NHL lead with six assists. His seven points are tied for fourth. He set up goals for Kris Letang and Rickard Rakell and then added an empty-net goal of his own in a 6-3 victory over Montreal on Tuesday.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan turned the attention to Malkin’s evolved defensive game in his postgame comments to the media after the win in Montreal.

“I think he looks strong,” Sullivan said, according to the Penguins website. “He’s in great shape. I think he’s trying to play the game the right way. We talked to him a lot about certain aspects of his game. We can see him making a concerted effort out there to try to play the game the right way.

“We’ve asked him to cut his skating down a little bit in the defensive zone, or his play away from the puck, and not playing so much in motion. I think he’s trying to do that when the time calls for it. But I think he looks really strong, and he still has the ability to take over the game at particular points in time.”

Players to watch

Buffalo – Jason Zucker

The former Penguins forward hasn’t found the back of the net quite yet, but he has helped form an effective two-way line alongside Greenway and fellow newcomer Ryan McLeod.

With Greenway, McLeod and Zucker on the ice at 5-on-5, the Sabres have generated a 31-22 advantage in shot attempts and a 9-5 edge in high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick – all of this in spite of the fact that they’ve taken of their 25 draws in the defensive zone.

Zucker assisted on Greenway’s goal against the Panthers on Saturday for his first point as a member of the Sabres. The 32-year-old spent parts of four seasons with the Penguins from 2020 to 2023 and had three points in three games against his former team last season.

Pittsburgh – Sidney Crosby

We’ve already dedicated a section of this preview to Malkin, so we’ll use this space to cover the Penguins’ other future Hall-of-Fame forward. Crosby has three assists in four games to open the season and enters the matchup one point shy of becoming the 10th player in NHL history to record 16,000 career points.

Crosby is the active scoring leader against the Sabres with 82 points in 59 games, but the Sabres have done a better job of containing him in recent matchups. They held Crosby to two points in their three meetings last season, including one game without a point in Pittsburgh on Jan. 6.