Morning skate report: Kennedy, Gerbe in lineup

A quick turnaround for some of the Sabres after Saturday's 3-2 overtime win against the Leafs. They were back on the ice this morning to get ready for tonight's 7 p.m. game against Minnesota and if you're going to this one, you're going to see the HSBC Arena debuts for South Buffalo native Tim Kennedy, former Boston College sensation Nathan Gerbe, rookie defenseman Chris Butler and backup goaltender Patrick Lalime.

Here's how the forwards were lined up this morning: Paille-Gaustad-Stafford; MacArthur-Hecht-Pominville; Gerbe-Kennedy-Afinogenov; Mancari-Zagrapan-Gogulla. The defensemen dressing will be Butler, Jaroslav Spacek, Craig Rivet, Henrik Tallinder, Andrej Sekera and Mike Weber.

Key scratches for the Sabres include Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek, Ales Kotalik, Tim Connolly, Patrick Kaleta, Andrew Peters, Nathan Paetsch, Toni Lydman and Teppo Numminen.

By the way, the Wild will not be dressing star winger Marian Gaborik. Too bad. He's an incredibly talented player we see very little of on television. Unless the Wild figures out a way to get him signed to a longterm deal, the Slovakian figures to be the most sought-after free agent on the market next summer. And he might be the most sought-after rental player (think Marian Hossa) at the trade deadline come March.

---Mike Harrington