(My Sportsbook) - The Phoenix Coyotes will battle the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night at the HSBC Arena. However, this is not your typical early-season, inter-conference matchup.

It was January 19 of last season when Buffalo roughhouse right wing Vaclav Varada slammed young Phoenix center Krys Kolanos into the boards, face first during a contest at America West Arena.

Kolanos suffered a severe concussion at the time and has not been the same since. In training camp, post-concussion syndrome symptoms flared up and Kolanos has been on the injured list ever since.

"This was a game I was looking forward to playing." Kolanos told the Arizona Republic. "I'm disappointed I'm not there to go face-to-face with Varada and let him know a few things."

Kolanos has met with a neurologist in Montreal who has advised the 21-year-old Calgary native to stay away from all hockey activity for at least another week.

"She thinks I'm too symptomatic right now to start my rehab," Kolanos added. "Being here in Calgary has been good. I think I can get better faster by just trying to take my mind off it."

The Coyotes, at 1-4, are off to their worst start in team history and head coach Bob Francis is more concerned about getting his team back on the right track than getting retaliation on Varada.

"Varada? I haven't even thought of Varada until you brought him up," Francis told the paper. "We have more important issues than Varada at this point. We've got to right the ship and not get overly concerned with paybacks. That stuff is only going to add to our problems and, obviously, part of our problem has been discipline."

The Coyotes have dropped two straight and during their 5-3 loss to Toronto on Thursday Francis pulled starters Shane Doan and Danny Briere. He has said though that the two will be back alongside Tony Amonte on Saturday.

WHAT'S AHEAD

After tonight's tilt in Buffalo, Phoenix wraps up a brief two-game road trip in Nashville on Tuesday, then returns home for a pair of contests against Colorado and Minnesota.