Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Buffalo Sabres winger Jeff Skinner returned to practice on Wednesday after missing three games with an upper-body injury. Skinner was sent flying into the boards back-first last week Wednesday by Colorado Avalanche forward Nate MacKinnon.
Skinner was back on a line with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch, and says he felt good. However, head coach Don Granato thinks the next 24 hours will be important.
"Jeff is still in a progression, and today is a big part of that progression to see where he is at," said Granato following Wednesday's practice. "It’s not certain that he will be in tomorrow, but the progression today looked good. He’ll follow up with medical and doctors, so today was a big day."
Skinner tried to play a power play after the hit, but never returned after that.
"I tried to come back and didn’t feel quite right, so we had to reassess and now we’re here," Skinner said Wednesday following practice.
Some felt the hit by MacKinnon was dirty, but Skinner isn’t one of them.
"It was clean," he said. "I saw him, I just didn’t have myself in good enough position to accept it. I was an awkward distance from the boards, and 'Tuchy' was making a break there. I put myself in a vulnerable position to try to get him the puck, and it didn’t work out for me."
For the last year-and-a-half, I’ve heard everyone from the general manager to the head coach to the players talking about not competing hard enough. Teams can make themselves better by practicing in the offensive zone or the defensive zone, but in my mind, compete is an individual thing and has to come from the gut.
"It’s about stringing things together and working for each other, and the other team is trying to compete and work hard too. You have to work smarter, but for us, we need to have urgency and desperation in our game," Skinner said on the matter. "That hasn’t been up to par as of late, and we need to work towards getting there."
With the lines up front, it’s the first time all season they have been like last year. Granato says now they must add speed to the equation.
"We sit here a lot of times talking about needing to compete better, and that’s still the No. 1 component. But injuries can’t be an excuse for some of the play we’ve had, and we need to play with more pace," he said.
"If I see a game from last season and a game from this season, it’s the pace. The pace is the difference."
The Sabres got the first two shots on goal Tuesday night and scored 30 seconds into the game by using pace. Granato says there’s a real big reason why things fell apart, and it might not be what you think.
"We had the first two shots of the game, and then they had the next dozen-plus. You know that the barometer with our group is the shot clock. When we’re not willing to shot a puck, we’re trying to be too fancy and not playing aggressive enough," Granato said.
Overall, the Sabres are averaging 30.1 shots per-game, which is 20th in the league. In their 13 wins, they’re averaging 30.77 shots on goal. In their last five wins, the team has averaged 34.6 shots per-game, which includes a 27-shot performance against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Granato promised changes for Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the lines reflect that. He adds we’ll also see it in the defensive pairs.
Forwards:
Skinner - Thompson - Tuch
Peterka - Cozens - Quinn
Greenway - Mittelstadt - Benson
Robinson - Krebs - Okposo
