Zucker is an influential voice in the locker room and wants to make Buffalo better despite knowing he could be traded at the deadline.

Zucker (illness) is considered a game-time decision for Saturday's road matchup against the Oilers, Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News reports. Zucker has missed the last two games due to an illness,

The Buffalo Sabres visit the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Saturday afternoon. It concludes a four-game road trip for Buffalo which has seen losses in Seattle and Calgary sandwich Tuesday’s comeback victory in Vancouver.

Zucker’s net-front residence has yielded offense at both 5-on-5 and on a resurgent Buffalo power play. Since Dec. 21, with Zucker a regular on the top unit, the Sabres have gone 9-for-28 (32 percent) with the man advantage, seventh best in the NHL during that span.

McLeod has 10 goals and 14 assists for the Sabres and is on pace to shatter the career highs of 12 goals and 30 points he set last year for

Buffalo Sabres left wing Jason Zucker (illness) practiced on Friday and may be ready to return to the lineup on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers. The veteran has missed a couple of games due to an illness.

This affiliate content is not influenced by our advertising relationships, but AP and Data Skrive might earn commissions from our partners’ links in this content.

Dealing with illness

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored two goals to help the Edmonton Oilers beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2. Edmonton improved to 21-6-1 in its last 28 games.

The Buffalo Sabres (18-26-5) fell 3-2 to the Edmonton Oilers (31-15-3) at Rogers Place on Saturday afternoon, dropping to 1-4 in their last five games. Buffalo’s Alex Tuch opened the scoring late in the first period, converting on a sharp pass from Jason Zucker, but the Oilers responded just 17 seconds later, thanks to former Sabre Jeff Skinner.

The Buffalo Sabres concluded their four-game road trip through Seattle and Western Canada with a stop in Edmonton for a Saturday matinee against the Oilers.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice to help the Edmonton Oilers rally for a 3-2 win against the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.