Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Only in the National Hockey League do they talk about taking head hits out of the game, and then when New Jersey Devils forward Stefan Noesen takes a cheap shot, hitting Tage Thompson in the head and putting him out of the rest of that game and the next one Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, there’s no suspension.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff certainly thought there would be a suspension.
"I am surprised," said Ruff on Tuesday after the morning skate. "I think that’s what they want to try to get out of the game. You look at the NFL and what they’ve done protecting players. I don’t think that was an accidental play."
Teams know they can take liberties against the Sabres, and there are rarely any consequences. Ruff says it was talked about and addressed on Monday.
"We had some hard conversations. It’s over. What we discussed will stay inside the room, and we’re moving on to trying to win tonight," Ruff said.
He also had no comment when asked if general manager Kevyn Adams was involved in the meetings.
Dylan Cozens is one of the captains in the locker room, and he sits next to Thompson in the locker room.
"Obviously it was a really dirty hit, and he’s our star player," said Cozens on Tuesday. "Anytime you see a teammate go down like that, you want to see something happen."
I asked Cozens if the reaction next time needs to be different.
"I do think so, and I know it will be," he said. "I think there were a lot of guys that wished they were on the ice when that happened, but we’ve talked about it and we’ve dealt with it. We’ve talked about it as a group, and that won’t happen again."
For years, teams have known they can come to Buffalo and take liberties with this team.
"We don’t want teams to think of us like that. We’re going to do what we can to not let teams think like that," Cozens said. "We have each other’s back, we’re a tight group, and everyone in here loves each other. Next time will be different."
Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson is out with a lower-body injury. He blocked a shot in one of the late penalty kills on Sunday in their win over the Devils.
With Thompson out, Isak Rosen has been called up from the Rochester Americans and will play with Jiri Kulich and JJ Peterka.
This is Rosen’s second chance to play in Buffalo this season. He was at the AHL All-Star Game in California when he got the call. He has seven goals in his last four games, and leads Rochester with 23 goals.
For the fifth time this season, the Sabres are looking for their first four-game winning streak in over two years. At home, they’ve won 6-of-8 games, and are now 12-11-3 when playing in Western New York.
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Columbus has won 3-of-4 games, and are tied with the Detroit Red Wings, which puts those two teams in the two Eastern Conference Wild Card positions.
The Blue Jackets are 12 points ahead of the Sabres in the standings, despite Buffalo going 4-2-0 in their last six, going 10-7-1 (.583) in their last 18 games.
Tuesday will be a tough task for the Jackets, as they are without their three leading scorers - Zach Werenski, Kirill Marchenko and Sean Monahan - due to injuries.
Elvis Merzlikins is in goal, and is 19-12-3 this season with a 2.96 goals-against average and an .895 save percentage. It’s actually amazing Columbus is where they are, considering their goals-against average of 3.30 is 26th in the NHL.
Their penalty killing is also 26th, but they find ways to win games. On Oct. 17, they beat the Sabres, 6-4.
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Tune in during "Schopp and the Bulldog" for pregame coverage at 6 p.m. when you’ll hear from Ruff, Cozens, Rosen and Jacob Bryson.