Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – If there’s a few things you can take away from the Buffalo Sabres' 7-4 loss on Friday to the Pittsburgh Penguins, it’s the preseason is over, and head coach Don Granato has six days to fix the things that are plaguing his team.
Let’s start with the positive.
Zach Benson played with Casey Mittelstadt and Jordan Greenway, and all three competed hard on Friday. Benson had a goal and an assist to give him four goals and three assists for seven points in six preseason games.
Mittelstadt worked hard along the wall on the Benson goal and finished with three points on the night.
As for Greenway, he has also been hard on pucks and hard to play against, as he’s healthy this season for Buffalo.
Another bright spot Friday was defenseman Erik Johnson playing his first game with the Sabres. He got 16:29 of work, and wasn’t on the ice for any of the seven Pittsburgh goals.
After that, you can start with the goaltending of Devon Levi on out.
Rasmus Dahlin and Connor Clifton were on the ice for four goals-against, and Dahlin spent quite a bit of the night turning the puck over.
Buffalo’s penalty killing was horrendous on Friday, as the Penguins went 2-for-3 with the extra man. If the penalty killing doesn’t improve from 28th in the league like it was last year, making the playoffs will be extremely difficult.
The thing is, none of it matters, because the game doesn’t count. I think many coaches would rather have a final preseason game where the coaches have things to talk about with the players and room to grow.
Now it’s time for general manager Kevyn Adams and Granato to figure out the 23-man roster by Monday. If you go strictly by preseason games, which the Sabres don’t, Eric Comrie would start in goal on Thursday and it wouldn’t even be close.
The team has to figure out if it’s keeping three goalies. If they do keep three goalies, now what?
They could keep Jacob Bryson and Riley Stillman on defense and then waive Tyson Jost. They could keep one extra D and one extra forward, which would mean either Stillman or Bryson would be waived or traded.
Right now, there’s no room for Brandon Biro, who has earned a spot, or Ryan Johnson. Johnson has had a very good camp, but it won’t hurt him to start in Rochester and learn the pro game.
The New York Rangers come to town on Thursday to open the 2023-24 regular season, and each and every player on this team knows the last two preseason games weren’t even close to good enough.
The good news is they have six days to work hard and get themselves ready.
