Ratzlaff gets call in goal for Sabres on Friday against Blue Jackets

Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres open the 2024 Sabres Prospects Challenge on Friday at Harborcenter against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Rochester Americans head coach Mike Leone will be behind the bench for the Sabres, and announced Friday morning that 2023 fifth-round pick Scott Ratzlaff will start in goal.

Ratzlaff went 1-1-0 in last year’s tournament with a 3.00 goals-against average and an .872 save percentage. This past season with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League, Ratzlaff went 21-26-2 with a 3.33 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.

Over the course of last year's tournament:

- Jiri Kulich had two goals and no assists in two games;
- Isak Rosen had two goals and three assists for five points in two games;
- Tyson Kozak had a goal and an assist in three games;
- Nikita Novikov had four assists in three games;
- Viktor Neuchev had one goal in two games;
- Olivier Nadeau had an assist in three games;
- Norwin Panocha had three assists in three games;
- Ryan Johnson went scoreless in three games;
- Aleksandr Kisakov went scoreless in two games;
- Ethan Miedema went scoreless in three games.

Leone says he went over a few things system-wise with the players, but says as far as what he wants to see from them, it’s solid, fast, hard play.

"We’ve gone over a few things. We showed a couple D-Zone clips, our breakouts are important, and we did that yesterday. But overall, it’s the standard that we want to play with from the top-down in the organization," Leone said on Friday after practice.

"What’s the identity if someone watches us play tonight? What are they going to say? We want to be relentless, and be a really competitive hockey team.

"There’s going to be mistakes, but it’s how hard we change, how hard we’re forechecking, how hard guys are tracking back into the zone. Regardless of what’s happening in the games, it’s up to us to establish how we want to play."

Join Brian Koziol, Brayton Wilson and myself for all the action starting at 6:45 p.m. ET with pregame coverage on WGR.