Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – In the five games Don Granato has been the Buffalo Sabres' head coach, Jeff Skinner has one goal and no assists for one point.
During that time, Kevyn Adams has also served as head coach. Skinner’s ice-time has increased to a point where he played over 20 minutes in Pittsburgh against the Penguins, but his dreadful production remains the same.
In 31 games, the winger has just three goals and one assist for four points. Skinner said Granato has shown him that he has trust in his abilities.
“Any player wants to have the trust of the coach, or the coach believes in them and thinks you could be an impact player and help the team win,” he said following Monday's morning skate.
In the last two games, the Sabres have been better with Granato’s aggressive style of pace for 40 minutes. In both games, they crumbled in the third and lost. Skinner said he really likes what Granato brings to the table.
“For me, most players would prefer to play an aggressive style, and hopefully as we get more comfortable or used to the system, it translates into the ability to score more and a little less time spent in our end,” he said.
The increased minutes hasn’t translated into results, but Skinner just looks like a happier player.
“Every player wants to play an impact role," the 28-year-old said. "Now I get more opportunities to help the team. You get to be more involved in the game, you get to be more in a rhythm.”
Buffalo blew a 2-1 third period lead on Saturday and lost in Boston against the Bruins, 3-2. Against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, it was a three-goal lead only to lose in overtime. Skinner said it’s the little things that count.
“You’ve got to build on those things," he said. "Every team is chasing that consistency. There’s going to be ebbs and flows and there’s going to be changes in momentum, and you just have to stick with it. It’s not going to be easy. Especially in this division, you can’t let up and you can’t play the game in spurts. To do that, you have to find your game and be consistent with it.”
Jacob Bryson returned to practice on Tuesday. Dylan Cozens wasn’t on the ice after leaving Monday’s game early. He got crushed into the wall by Flyers defenseman Philippe Myers. Granato told Howard and Jeremy on Tuesday that he does expect Cozens back before the season ends.
Right after stretching, Granato got Tuesday’s practice off with a bang. The team had 3-on-3, half-ice competing drills. It’s something he usually saves for the final drill of practice.
With this team blowing leads in the last two games, it looks like the team may be running out of steam. Ralph Krueger was not a coach that pushed his team, and it seems some guys were not in the best shape they could be.
"We had trouble late a couple of weeks ago, so yes, coming out of the [COVID-19 pause and the] 14 days off that we had, we felt, as a staff, that conditioning was an issue," Granato said.
"When I came on over a week ago, I mentioned to you that we lost puck battles. In the first game I was on the bench against Boston, it was the third period when we lost strength on puck battles, and we had a lot of anxiety to our game, which is fatigue. I mentioned at that time that we're going to practice longer and practice harder, and it may cost us in the short-term, but we need to prop up our game conditioning."
Granato thinks they've had a good two weeks of work.
"I feel we've done that, but Boston and Philadelphia elevated in the third period and we were slow to elevate," he said.
Tuesday’s lines:
Forwards:
Skinner – Lazar – Okposo
Hall – Mittelstadt – Thompson
Olofsson – Sheahan – Reinhart
Rieder – Eakin – Fogarty
Smith – Dea
Defense:
Montour – Miller
Bryson – Ristolainen
Irwin – Davidson
Dahlin – Jokiharju
