Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres practiced on Friday without Dylan Cozens and Rasmus Ristolainen. Cozens suffered an injury Thursday after a big hit by Pittsburgh Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese sent his head backwards into the boards. Ristolainen was likely just given the day off.
Ralph Krueger, of course, was asked about the status of Cozens, as well as Jack Eichel after Friday's practice, and didn't provide much of an update.
“With Dylan, we’re still doing further evaluations today. He remains officially with an upper-body, day-to-day status.," Krueger said.
“With Jack, it’s still in that minimum 7-10 day [window], as we continue to work with the upper-body situation that he’s dealing with.”
The Rochester Americans are dealing with, what could be, a COVID-19 outbreak.
Two games have been postponed, and the team is under complete quarantine and hasn’t practiced for two days. That also means the Sabres cannot call up any players from the Amerks' roster.
The Sabres only have the taxi squad of Rasmus Asplund, Dustin Tokarski, C.J. Smith and Brandon Davidson to draw from. They also have one extra defenseman that’s on the roster and one extra forward.
Krueger confirmed that Carter Hutton will be in goal Saturday against the Penguins.
Casey Mittelstadt has lately been playing right wing with Jeff Skinner and Curtis Lazar. Mittelstadt has almost always played center until this season. Krueger has told Mittelstadt that his days of playing center as a regular position in the NHL are over. Mittelstadt said he’s OK with that.
“This year, I’ve been playing wing and playing well, so I understand for sure," the 22-year-old said on Friday. "I think it’s nice to play with 'Laser' [Lazar] because we have two centers on the line, and on the ice you’re just playing. There’s so many times that you end up lower in the middle of the ice, but I like the wing, because you’re on the outside a little bit more and you get to carry the puck in on rushes. I’ve enjoyed it.”
Mittelstadt has only taken 31 faceoffs this season, but he’s fourth on the team, winning 54.8% of them. On Thursday, he won all eight draws that he took.
The kid said it’s something that has become a focus for him.
“Last year in [Rochester], I worked on that a lot, because I was playing a lot more valuable minutes and taking a lot more valuable draws. But a lot of it is just a rhythm thing, where some nights you’re just feeling it.”
I know it sounds strange, but cutting back on the volume of faceoffs he takes in practice helps.
“I just make sure I do a little of it each day," Mittelstadt said. "I think sometimes in the past, I’ve done so much of it that and overthought it that I was trying so many different moves. For me, my strength is my quickness and reacting."
Since re-entering the lineup, Krueger has trusted Mittelstadt on the penalty kill. The former first round pick in 2017 said he appreciates the faith being shown in him.
“I did it quite a bit in 'Roch' last year, so I think any of the nerves or being uncomfortable I got out in 'Roch, and 'Tails' [Chris Taylor] worked with me a lot on it last year. So I’ve been comfortable, and it’s been nice to go out there with 'Laser' and I feel like we’ve worked well together.”
Killing penalties in the AHL is one thing, but Mittelstadt knows it’s a whole different animal in the NHL.
“It’s a little bit more skilled in the NHL, and guys are looking a lot at the seems," Mittelstadt said. "Just having an awareness to that, and stay in shot lanes and trust my reads and trust my instincts.”
With Cozens and Ristolainen out, more line-juggling went on at Friday's practice:
Forwards:
Rieder – Staal – Olofsson
Hall – Sheahan – Reinhart
Thompson (Smith) – Eakin – Okposo
Skinner – Lazar – Mittelstadt
Defense:
Bryson – Montour
Dahlin (Irwin) – Miller
Davidson – Jokiharju
