Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The injury news from the Buffalo Sabres on center Tage Thompson and goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen isn’t as bad as some had feared. Both missed practice on Wednesday, as well as defenseman Mattias Samuelsson.
"Tage and 'Uppie' are both day-to-day, and both are possibilities for Thursday," said Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff on Wednesday. "But Mattias is longer. It’ll be weeks for him."
Ruff anticipates Samuelsson back at some point this season and with no need for surgery, but the severity of his injury is considered "pretty strong."
The Sabres still have seven healthy defensemen on the roster, so they won’t have to call another one up from the Rochester Americans.
If Thompson does have to miss Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Blues, Dylan Cozens will have to step up into a bigger role. Ruff believes the centerman's overall game is improving.
"I’ve liked where Cozens game has been, even in his last two or three games," Ruff said following Wednesday's practice. "He’s getting on the scoresheet, he’s physical. Really, I think what’s been evident is his skating. I think we’ve seen the power of our team when we get contributions from everybody, and we’ll need that line to be a strong line for us. So if [Thompson] is out, we’ll need other personnel to step up and come up with a big game for us."
In his last 11 games, Cozens has three goals and four assists for seven points. That’s 52 points over 82 games. Cozens agrees that his game is trending upwards.
"I’m feeling better. I’ve been feeling more like myself recently. I feel like I’ve been skating better," said Cozens after Wednesday's practice.
Cozens says it’s huge that Thompson’s injury is short-term, because he’s so important to the team. Thompson is fourth in the league with 11 goals.
Now that Cozens is in a leadership role, he knows he must elevate his game when players like Thompson can’t play.
"It’s time for me to step up here, and be the player that I know I can be," Cozens said. "If 'Tommer' is not going to be in tomorrow, I know I’ve got to step up, and other guys have got to step up too."
The Sabres are still doing what they’ve done for years, and Ruff sees it as well. When this team plays the way they practice and the way Ruff wants them to play, they’re a good hockey team. The problem is, though, they only do it in 2-to-4-game spurts.
"I do get frustrated, for sure," Ruff said. "We’ve talked hard about consistent hockey, as we’ve won three of our last four, and we should’ve, at least, gotten points out of this last game.
"I feel we’re in a lot better place than we were two weeks ago. I thought last game was a step back, and we’ve got to become a team that doesn't lose two games in-a-row. Stop it at one, because that’s when you know that you’re really putting things together. So that’s our test."
The Sabres haven’t been able to stop it at one all season. They lost the first two games to the New Jersey Devils, they lost two to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets, they lost three to the Florida Panthers, New York Islanders and Detroit Red Wings, and now they lost their last game to the Montreal Canadiens.
In the last three games, the Sabres have had 18 shots against Montreal, 19 shots against the Calgary Flames, and 22 shots against the New York Rangers. Overall, they’re 23rd in the NHL, averaging 27.5 shots per-game.
The Sabres miss the net on a regular basis, and hit more posts and crossbars than any other team I’ve ever seen. They also pass up golden opportunities by passing too much. Ruff is trying to break them of those bad habits.
"It’s a big focus," he said. "I think when you have a little more time in the offensive zone, you pass up more opportunities. We refused to shoot the puck in the last game, and it is an issue. To get off to a good start in a game, to reward the guys that are going to the net, you’ve got to put the puck there. And probably in the first 10 minutes, there were seven or eight times that we did not funnel the puck or get the puck on net, or take an attempt at it. As a group, we know that won’t cut it."
If Luukkonen isn’t ready for Thursday, Devon Levi will only get his fifth start of the season. He came in for the third period against Montreal, and the first two shots went in the net.
He didn’t make a save until the period was 15 minutes old.
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In his last start against the Islanders, Levi allowed four goals and made 32 saves. Against Columbus, he allowed six goals, making 19 saves.
This season, Levi is 1-4-0 with a 4.10 goals-against average and an .866 save percentage. It seems worrisome that at age 22, he’s not playing much, but Ruff isn’t worried about it.
"The kid has such a great head on his shoulders, and I’m not worried about him, because his work ethic and what he does in practice is something that can keep him ready without playing," Ruff said. "How hard he works in second-to-none."
WEDNESDAY’S LINES:
Forwards:
Greenway - Krebs - Zucker
Benson - McLeod - Tuch
Malenstyn - Lafferty - Aube-Kubel
Peterka - Cozens - Quinn
Defense:
Dahlin - Byram
Power – Bryson
Gilbert - Jokiharju - Clifton