Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres got some players back for practice on Friday, as Tage Thompson, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Tyson Kozak and Dylan Cozens all are doing better.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said as long as there are no ramifications from Friday’s practice, they should all be good to go on Saturday against the Nashville Predators.
Thompson says he feels ready for Saturday, but he still needed to talk to the doctors and see where he progressed the rest of the day.
Concussions don’t always present symptoms right away, and Thompson says that’s what happened with him.
"Right after the initial hit, I felt totally fine. Felt fine the rest of the night, and then the second day hit me pretty hard. The third day, it was great, felt normal," said Thompson on Friday.
New Jersey Devils forward Stefan Noesen got a match penalty, which gave him five minutes and a game misconduct. That means the officials thought it was a dirty hit.
As for Thompson, he knows how fast this game can be, but felt there could've been another play for Noesen to make.
"He grabbed me after the game and talked to me and apologized, which I respect, but I felt like he could’ve made a play and avoided me," Thompson said. "But it’s tough to pinpoint one thing. It’s over with now, and just moving on."
The four Sabres that were on the ice at the time of the hit were widely criticized across the NHL for not responding after the fact.
"I thought we handled it internally here. I’ll just leave it at that," Thompson noted. "It’s been talked about, I respect and trust all the guys in this room. I’d go to war with each one of these guys, so what happened, happened. We dealt with it."
The win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday gave Buffalo its first four-game winning streak since January of 2023. Any team that makes the playoffs is able to stack wins, and Thompson felt it was important to get the monkey off their back.
"You’ve got to string wins together. You can be happy with the way you’re playing all you want, but you need results and you need to win. That’s a good feeling, for sure, getting that fourth one," Thompson said. "Internally it gives you a lot of confidence as a group that you can get it done, and start to build something. Saturday’s going to be really important for us to continue to build that, and head into break with five in-a-row."
Before the team left for Nashville on Friday, Isak Rosen was sent back to the Rochester Americans.
FRIDAY’S LINES:
Forwards:
Benson – Kozak – Lafferty
Zucker – McLeod –Tuch
Krebs – Cozens –Quinn
Peterka – Kulich – Thompson
Defense:
Bryson – Jokiharju
Dahlin – Byram
Gilbert – Greenway
Power – Clifton