Robin Lehner ready to face Senators in Sabres debut

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner won't have to wait long to face the team that traded him.

Lehner will make his Sabres regular-season debut Thursday night in Buffalo's opener against the Ottawa Senators, and the 24-year-old knows there are questions about his consistency.

"The question mark is me, so I’ve got a lot to live up to and I’m really looking forward to the challenge," Lehner told WGR 550's Paul Hamilton. "I usually don’t have a lot of nerves, but today I’m a little nervous."

The Senators traded Lehner and forward David Legwand to the Sabres for a first-round pick at June's draft.

"I’ve always wondered who has the advantage when a goalie faces his old team," Lehner said.

"I've been thinking about that because I know where they all shoot, but are they going to shoot there? I don’t know because they know so it’s a little mental, but I’m going to go out and just play every puck the same way, I'm not going to put too much thought into it."

Lehner will be expected to carry the bulk of the goaltending workload for Buffalo this year, having never played more than 36 games in a season at the NHL level in five campaigns with Ottawa.

"He would be a question mark, I don’t think he is the question mark, we all are," Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma said. "People are asking those questions not just about our goaltender, but about all of us."

Lehner isn't the only one making his debut Thursday. Bylsma, Jack Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly, and Evander Kane will all be representing the Sabres for the first time in a regular-season game.