Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – With the conditions in the City of Buffalo and the travel ban in place, the Buffalo Sabres still haven’t been able to practice as a group since last week Thursday. Certain players that live close enough to the arena where they can walk there have been able to get some skating in.
Sabres head coach Don Granato said Wednesday during the "Howard and Jeremy Show" on WGR they’ve been finding ways to get ice elsewhere.
“We hope to practice today," said Granato with Howard Simon and Joe DiBiase. "Guys have been able to get some ice and skate. We have not been able to do that collectively with the travel ban and respect to what’s going on here.”
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In addition on Wednesday, Sabres winger Alex Tuch joined Howard and Joe on WGR. He says the group is itching to get back to work out of the time away.
“We’re definitely chomping at the bit to get back to it," said Tuch during his appearance on WGR. "We’ve had more time on our hands than we wanted.”
Tuch was back home in Syracuse when the blizzard struck the region, and they decided to come back when the driving ban in Amherst was lifted. He, of course, has kept up with the coverage of the storm from Syracuse.
“It’s been terrible to hear how bad it is downtown, and it’s just really awful," Tuch said. "My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.”
Tuch also thanked the first responders and the emergency personnel rescuing residents and helping others in the aftermath of the blizzard.
“It’s been terrible for the City of Buffalo, and it's going to take some time to recover from all of this," Tuch said. "But the city has been working really hard, and it hasn’t been easy on anybody.”
The Sabres last played back on Dec. 19 in Vegas, beating the Golden Knights to extend their win streak to four games. The win also put the team at a 9-3-2 record over their last 14 games. Tuch likes how they can adapt to the game being played that night, and find a way to win.
“I like how we’ve been able to win games in all different fashions," he said.
“We’ve been able to win some high-scoring games, we’ve been able to win some games where we’ve been outshot by a lot, but we’ve locked it down in the third period and not given up the lead. We’ve won some games against some defensively-sound teams, and been able to not get frustrated and been able to break their pressure. This all comes with experience, and a little bit of maturity as our team grows.”
Tuch gets a front-row seat to it all, as Dylan Cozens, Owen Power, Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Peyton Krebs and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen have been able to find their way at the NHL level. He says they’ve learned a lot, but there’s one place in particular that's really improved.
“I really think it’s the defensive side of the game," Tuch said. "We’re top in the league in scoring, we’ve had a lot of guys step up production-wise, but I think our defensive side of the game has really increased. We haven’t had a ton of breakdowns, we’ve had some really good goaltending, and we were outshot by Vegas and Colorado. But we were able to win because we locked it down defensively. We didn’t let them get any high-danger chances, and when we did let up a few, we had the goaltending there to help us.”
Of course, the turn-around defensively didn’t just happen overnight.
“It takes a lot of pride to have good defense," Tuch said. "It’s a lot of hard work, and it’s doing the little things right to be good defensively. When the entire team takes pride in playing good defense, it helps.”
The Sabres' goals-against on the season is 3.41 goals per-game. In their 14-game streak, it's been 3.07, which is 17th in the league.
The Sabres are averaging 32.9 shots-against per-game this season, but in the recent 14-game streak, it’s gone up to 34.8 shots per-game, which is the third-highest average in the league in the time frame.
By the way, in those 14 games, Buffalo is averaging 4.57 goals per-game, which is way ahead of the next best team, the Seattle Kraken.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the Sabres come out of the gate after this long layoff.
“I like the idea of having the three-day break, but I’m not loving how it's expanded to over a week now," Tuch admitted. "Guys are just trying to do at home workouts to stay ready.
“It’s good we have the rest, but there will be a little bit of rust we’ll have to kick off after our first practice, and hopefully it doesn’t go into the game tomorrow, if we play.”
Tuch has played primarily on a line this season with Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner. This season, Tuch has scored 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points.
In 82 career games with the Sabres, Tuch has 27 goals and 46 assists for 73 points. His career-high in a season is 20 goals and 52 points with Vegas. He, of course, loves playing on his line with Thompson and Skinner.
“It’s my dream job playing for the Buffalo Sabres, and playing with Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner makes it that much more fun, both on and off the ice,” Tuch said.
Tuch has been given more on-ice responsibility than he had with the Golden Knights. He says he has been trying to run with every opportunity he gets playing for his hometown team growing up.
“Coming to Buffalo, I was given that opportunity and I tried to seize it," Tuch said. "I believe I can be that first line winger, both production-wise and all-around play-wise.”
If the Sabres aren’t able to host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, their next game would be Saturday afternoon in Boston against the Bruins.
