Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Casey Mittelstadt is finally putting together a stretch of consecutive games for the Buffalo Sabres after being injured twice this season and having surgery.
There were high hopes for the Sabres' 2017 first-round pick after he hit his stride last season. However, the forward played just nine minutes on opening night before having to leave the game hurt. He missed the next 21 games before coming back too early and playing just three more.
Mittelstadt eventually had surgery and missed the next 16 games, came back to play three more contests, missed another five games, and has now played in 29-consecutive games.
For much of that stretch he just didn’t look himself. The 23-year-old looked exhausted during shifts and had a lot of trouble getting on the score sheet.
Mittelstadt's game finally appeared to be coming to him in late March, as he recorded a stretch of 10 points (2+8) in 10 games. In his 35 games played this season, Mittelstadt has four goals and 13 assists for 17 points.
The Sabres forward says things are starting to get more normal for him.
“Just the last month overall, I mean, there are still some things that I feel different on," said Mittelstadt following Tuesday's practice. "Obviously it's been a long year with a lot of time without skating and hockey. It feels great to go and have the puck and have some team success. That caps it off.”
I always hear the term that when players start playing well, the game slows down for them. He said that’s been happening for him lately.
“There are times right when I came back where I’d rush a play, but now I find that I seem to be hanging onto it a lot more and finding plays, whether it’s in the [defensive] zone or offensive zone. That’s the biggest thing,” Mittelstadt said.
Players tend to learn just as much from the tough times as they do from the good ones. Mittelstadt says he is no different.
“It’s taught me some patience. That’s one of the things I struggle with most," he admitted. "I’m pretty impatient, and there’s positives to it too. I find that just being at home, I’ve grown a lot just simply cleaning the place and doing my laundry. Just getting better habits away from the rink. But the biggest positive is it's going to give me some motivation going into the summer to get right and get ready for next year.”
Mattias Samuelsson missed Tuesday’s practice due to a family issue and should be back on Wednesday. Kyle Okposo was given a maintenance day.
Despite it being the end of the season, the team is still having fast-paced, spirited practices. Sabres head coach Granato says he had to add a drill, because the players didn’t want practice to end. With that, he devised a quick 4-on-4 tournament, where Team White got the only goal with Zemgus Girgensons scoring on Craig Anderson.
“We don’t have to do anything to keep these guys motivated. They are motivated," said Granato on Tuesday. "They don’t want the season to end, because they know they keep building on things and they want to keep building.
“They wanted another drill, they didn’t want another drill to end, so today they wanted to keep going. The drill that we added at the end, [the 4-on-4] was based on them wanting more.”
You’d think that being out of the playoff race since December would make the players bitter and want to get out of here as quickly as possible. Those guys are now playing on other teams, and the players in place now want to keep the season going as long as possible.
“I think everyone is sad its ending," Mittelstadt said. "In the last month especially, we’ve put so much of it together that we’ve been feeling like we’ve been close to.
“I had seen for one night we’d do it so well, and then the next night, maybe not. I feel the last month or so, we’ve been doing it pretty much every night, and just putting that together. It's going to make it hard for everyone to go home, but at the same time, it’s a great way to end the season. We’re going to be motivated to go home and work hard, and get ready to start next year running.”
Of course, Granato has been with teams where it’s a struggle to keep guys going.
"It’s happened, but every day, the guys on the way to the rink should be energized for the day. They should not want a season to end,” he said.
With the Sabres not having a game until Thursday in New Jersey, it’s a whole different world in practice.
“There’s definitely an energy shift, where they know they don’t have to prepare for tomorrow and they were able to have a little more fun and a little more breathing room out there,” Granato explained.
Buffalo will practice again on Wednesday before leaving for Newark.
Tuesday’s lines:
Forwards:
Girgensons – Eakin – Bjork
Asplund – Cozens – Hinostroza
Skinner – Thompson – Olofsson
Krebs – Mittelstadt – Tuch (Hayden)
Defense:
Miller – Pysyk
Power – Jokiharju
Dahlin – Bryson
Butcher - Fitzgerald
