Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres returned to practice on Monday and got some players back from the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol list. At the same time, the team lost two others that entered the league's COVID-19 protocols.
Defenseman Casey Fitzgerald and forward Kyle Okposo have been added to the league protocols, while forwards Zemgus Girgensons, Dylan Cozens and Mark Jankowski all came off the list.
Okposo is a huge concern for head coach Don Granato, because he was in the middle of practice and around the players when they received his test and pulled him off the ice.
“Everything is a concern right now," Granato said following Monday's practice. "It’s crazy times again, and it’s happened in games in major league sports. So everybody’s trying to do their best to get information as fast as they can.”
Meanwhile, Girgensons said he had a fever for about a day-and-a-half, but felt great after that.
Girgensons and Drake Caggiula were in yellow non-contact sweaters on Monday, but Granato said Girgensons will be full-go on Tuesday.
Colin Miller had a rehab skate on Monday, and Granato said he will also return in-full for Tuesday's practice. Anders Bjork filled in as the sixth defenseman on Monday.
The Sabres don’t have a game until Thursday at home against the San Jose Sharks, and with Saturday’s game in Montreal postponed, Buffalo only has one game in nine days.
“The positives today, and they’re really, really good positives, is we have a lot of practice time to get people that really haven’t had a chance to go through what we’re doing systematically (Alex Tuch, Ethan Prow and Peyton Krebs) and just get settled," Granato said.
With just that one game, the way practices are structured will be different from what we normally see during a season.
“We went longer because of the schedule, and things have changed because they don’t have to worry about an opponent," Granato explained. "We’re going to have to push them harder as coaches.”
Cozens had to quarantine twice with Team Canada last season, and once for the Sabres. Now, he had to do it again because he tested positive for COVID-19 but with no symptoms.
“I’ve quarantined by myself a lot in the last year-and-a-half, so once I learned I tested positive, I was frustrated knowing I’d have to go through it again,” Cozens said following Monday's practice.
Cozens had no symptoms, which made it worse for his sake.
“I felt great. I felt no differences from my everyday life, which made it even more frustrating watching the games knowing I felt 100%,” Cozens said.
Since Cozens had no symptoms, he was looking for ways to keep his conditioning up. That led him to go virtual with his training.
“I had some bands dropped off at my place, and I also got a virtual reality headset," Cozens explained. "I was doing a lot of boxing on that, which is really good conditioning. It was kind of cool to put that on and see a whole different world. I was standing in my room boxing with it, and it’s really good conditioning. I recommend it to anyone else who gets COVID.”
After playing his first two NHL games with the Sabres, JJ Peterka went down to Rochester and earned AHL Player of the Week honors on Monday.
In two games with the Amerks this weekend, Peterka had two goals and three assists for five points. In 25 games with the Amerks this season, the 19-year-old has six goals and 19 assists for 25 points.
MONDAY’S LINES:
Forwards:
Skinner – Thompson – Tuch
Murray – Cozens – Hinostroza
Asplund – Eakin – Hayden
Girgensons – Jankowski – Caggiula
Olofsson – Krebs – Okposo
Bjork
***Photo: Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres)
