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Sabres and Wild battle in St. Paul

Mar 6, 2011 - 4:05 PM (Sports Network) - The surging Buffalo Sabres will try to extend their point streak with back-to-back wins when they visit the Minnesota Wild tonight at Xcel Energy Center.

The Sabres have recorded a point in six straight contests, posting a 4-0-2 mark during that stretch and Buffalo is coming off a big victory in Philadelphia.

Buffalo improved to 2-0-1 on its seven-game road trip with a 5-3 win over the Eastern Conference-leading Flyers on Saturday afternoon. The Sabres enter today's action with 70 points, leaving them one shy of idle Carolina for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.

The Sabres trailed Saturday's game by a 2-0 score after 20 minutes of play, but Buffalo took the lead with three markers in a span of 3 minutes, 40 seconds during the second period.

The Flyers were able to tie the game at 3-3 before the end of the second stanza, but Jason Pominville scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Buffalo would later add an empty-net tally by Nathan Gerbe.

Drew Stafford, Tyler Ennis and Andrej Sekera scored the important second- period goals for Buffalo, while Brad Boyes and Thomas Vanek both collected two assists. Boyes has four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in three games since coming over from St. Louis in a trade.

Ryan Miller made 33 saves to pick up his 28th win of the season, but it's unclear if he will get the start again today or if backup Jhonas Enroth will make a rare appearance. Miller is 2-1-0 with a 2.50 goals-against average in his career against the Wild.

Minnesota last played on Thursday, when it notched a 3-1 road victory over the New York Rangers. Wild goaltender Jose Theodore was stellar with 40 saves to help his club end a two-game slide.

Kyle Brodziak, Casey Wellman and Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored for Minnesota, which is seeded 11th in the West and is just two points in back of Los Angeles for the conference's eighth and final postseason berth.

"We are fighting for a playoff spot, and every time I have a chance to play, I need to be on top of my game," said Theodore.

It's unclear if Theodore or Niklas Backstrom will get the start in net this evening. Theodore has won two of his last three starts, while Backstrom is on a personal three-game losing streak.

The Wild could be without forward Cal Clutterbuck tonight due to an upper-body injury. Clutterbuck was the recipient of an illegal hit to the head by Trevor Gillies of the New York Islanders on Thursday, but he was in the lineup the following night against the Rangers. However, Clutterbuck was held out of practice on Saturday and is questionable for today's contest.

Gillies was given a 10-game suspension by the league for his hit on Clutterbuck.

The Wild are playing the first of two straight on home ice tonight and will also host Colorado on Tuesday.

Minnesota posted a win in Buffalo last season, giving the road team a victory in four straight and eight of the last nine meetings in this series. The Wild have taken four of six overall from the Sabres, but Buffalo has won two in a row and four of its last five in St. Paul.

Buffalo has a 17-10-5 road record this season and the Wild are 16-13-3 as the home team.