BUFFALO, N.Y. -- For the first time in his five-year professional career, Evan Rodrigues will play in KeyBank Center as a visitor when the Penguins play the Sabres here today at 7:08 p.m.
Walking into the building was unusual for Rodrigues, who wasn't even quite sure how to get to the visitor's locker room here.
"Once we got to this area I didn't know where I was going," Rodrigues laughed, nodding to the visiting team's section of the hallway. "It was a little bit weird. It's going to be definitely different going through the away hallway onto the ice and being on the other side of it. But I'm excited for it, it's going to be a cool experience."
The Penguins have lost to the Sabres in both games between the two teams this season, falling 3-1 in the season opener and 5-2 last month. In what Rodrigues remembers from what made the Sabres so successful in those games, he thinks the key for the Penguins tonight is going to be being strong on the puck in the neutral zone.
"I think just knowing that room, they're going to come hard in their transition game," Rodrigues said. "They clog up the neutral zone really well. Just avoiding those neutral zone turnovers and getting pucks deep and just playing them in their defensive zone. If you turn pucks over in the neutral zone, they counter so quickly. That's the bread and butter of their game."
While the Sabres have had strong games against the Penguins this season, they're sitting in sixth place in the Atlantic Division and are 12 points out of a playoff spot, either for a divisional spot or a wild card spot. It's nothing new for a team that hasn't made the playoffs since 2011, well before Rodrigues made the NHL. The Sabres in recent seasons have added talented young players like Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Rasmus Dahlin and Rasmus Ristolainen, but haven't yet been able to put together a winning season, and Rodrigues isn't quite sure why.
"Being in that locker room, I don't really have an answer. It's a great group," Rodrigues said. The skill is all there, the talent is all there. I can't put a nose on it. It seems like every time around this year, whether it's bounces, or will, or not being there before in that situation, it just kind of wears on the room. I don't really know. When you look on paper, in the room, all the talent and pieces are there. It's just executing and making it happen."
At the time of the trade, the Penguins were in the midst of a losing streak that would stretch to six games. Rodrigues was struck by the even-keel attitude in the locker room, even when the team was dealing with adversity.
"They just have such a calming presence," Rodrigues said. "There's no real panic in the room, even when going through a little bit of a losing stretch when I first got here. Even then, there was no worry, no panic. Just get ready for the next game and prepare the next day and eventually it was going to turn. That was the mindset."
Rodrigues says that mindset comes from confidence.
"Every game they go into they expect to win," Rodrigues said. "They're confident, they have some swagger. It's almost a sense of being there before, whether we get down in games 1-0, 2-0, we think we can come back in any game. It's nice to be a part of."
MORE FROM PREGAME
• Matt Murray will start in goal, the first time in nearly a month that the Penguins are giving a goaltender back-to-back starts.
• Nick Bjugstad and Brandon Tanev are both game-time decisions. Both briefly skated this morning with a small group of players.
• Usually on days the team doesn't skate, the players who are expected to be scratches (plus the backup goaltender) skate on their own for an extended period of time. Today that group included Tristan Jarry, Juuso Riikola, Chad Ruhwedel, and Sam Lafferty. You figure Lafferty would be the forward who comes out if Bjugstad and Tanev both play, so it could be a sign that Lafferty skated with the scratches.
• The Penguins will wear their home uniforms tonight. The Sabres will wear their 50th Anniversary jerseys, which are white.
• Sabres PR has decided that my name is now Tyler:
Only answering to Tyler today btw pic.twitter.com/9mRhhnmOcw
— Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) March 5, 2020
