Buffalo Sabres Lineup Vs. Pittsburgh Penguins In Preseason Finale

9/26/26 - 3:00 pm at Key Bank Center in Buffalo, NY

Buffalo – 1-1-1 | - 0 points – 6th place in the Atlantic Division

Pittsburgh – 1-2-0 | - 0 points – 6th place in the Metropolitan Division

Starting Goalies

Buffalo –Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen / Colten Ellis

Pittsburgh  – Sergei Murashov / Arturs Silovs

Other Sabres Stories

Mrtka Looking To Take The Next Step Towards The NHL 

Sabres Line Combinations and Pairings 

Forwards

Peyton Krebs - Tage Thompson - Josh Doan

Zach Benson - Noah Ostlund - Jack Quinn 

Ryan McLeod - Josh Norris - Konsta Helenius

Tyson Kozak - Sam Carrick - Beck Malenstyn 

Defense

Rasmus Dahlin - Zach Metsa 

Owen Power - Conor Timmins 

Matt Grzelcyk - Louis Crevier

Goaltenders

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Colten Ellis

Pittsburgh Lineup

Preseason finale in Buffalo ????

Lineup and info: https://t.co/nitumcr0Fapic.twitter.com/ZLOh5hl0kg

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 26, 2026

Notes

Courtesy of Sabres.com

The Sabres will be down two of their presumed starters on defense. Olen Zellweger is in concussion protocol but expected to be ready for the start of the regular season, Lindy Ruff said. Mattias Samuelsson, however, remains week to week with his lower-body injury.

Buffalo signed veteran Matt Grzelcyk to a one-year deal on Friday, adding depth to the left side of the defense corps. Grzelcyk will make his team debut against the Penguins, drawing into the lineup along with Zach Metsa.

How the Sabres arrange their defense pairs minus Samuelsson and Zellweger remains to be seen. The team has worked with a variety of pairs at practice, including time spent by Louis Crevier alongside both Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power.

Ruff said he intends to stick with consistent power-play units to start the season in a bid to grow chemistry. We’ve seen the same two groups of five for the duration of camp, both of which will be fully intact for today’s game:

PP1: Doan, Thompson, Benson, Quinn, Dahlin

PP2: Helenius, McLeod, Ostlund, Norris, Power

The Sabres have made their power play a focus in camp. The organization’s analytics department did a deep dive on power plays around the league during the summer and produced a lengthy report for Buffalo’s coaches, who in turn whittled it down into digestible information for the players.

In their previous preseason game featuring the NHL lineup, the Sabres went 0-for-3 on the power play but had plenty of opportunity. Today offers one final tune-up for the two units ahead of the regular season.

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