Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) - The Sabres' power play has gone stale in the last 10 games, but it's still ranked 21st in the NHL at 17-percent. Phil Housley had them practicing it for quite a while on Monday. He said, "Scoring chances don't count anymore, we have to have production. There's times in the past 10 games where we've had really good opportunities and the goalie has made some good saves, but that's not an excuse, it's all about production.
"We'll get some different looks with some different personnel, so we used Kyle back on that flank and we've got to work at it right now because we're not getting the results."
The first power play unit consisted of Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner, Sam Reinhart, Kyle Okposo and Rasmus Ristolainen. The second unit was Evan Rodrigues, Casey Mittelstadt, Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin. Conor Sheary and Jason Pominville alternated on the wing.
The Sabres have nine defensemen in practice now that Casey Nelson is back from injury. Lawrence Pilut has stayed up, which means Housley has had to scratch two defensemen. He said, "I've made decisions earlier in the season when we were having a lot more success, it was easier to change guys when we were winning or losing, but now it's been driven by results and are we getting the results? We've got eight very good defensemen that can play so it's tough decisions and it falls on me to make the right one."
There are other things Housley has been working on too. He said, "It's important to get back to where we're harder to play against in our own zone and harder to play against when we have the puck."
With these NHL bye weeks, the Sabres had to sit and watch other teams get points while they were off. Now, Toronto and Montreal are off and it's Buffalo's turn to try to get points. Housley said, "It's uncomfortable, you're seeing teams like Montreal keep winning and those games I think it's a good thing for us, it's a challenge for us. This is where we wanted to be, obviously we want to be in a playoff spot, but we put ourselves in a good position, but it's going to be difficult and I'm excited to see how our guys are going to react to the challenge."
Jack Eichel has been watching and he said it's up to them to take advantage, "It's a good opportunity for us to get a couple of points, so these games are important."
Monday was Eichel's first practice back after the All-Star Game. He said he enjoyed his experience. Eichel is a collector of hockey memorabilia, getting some new stuff at the game. The captain said, "I got some cool things, I got my game jersey and I got that signed by all the guys in the East. I got a stick signed by everybody in the All-Star Game and then I grabbed one of Crosby's sticks and that was pretty cool. I had been waiting on one of those for a little bit and it was really cool to get one of his. I have an Alex Ovechkin stick too, so I have a nice area of memorabilia in my house."
Eichel said he got a chance to rest a little before traveling out to San Jose. He said he feels good and is ready to get back to it, "I was able to mentally recharge and it makes me excited again for the second half of the year. I'm looking forward to playing again and see all the other guys. It's good to get away from them, but I definitely missed them, so it's nice to get back to with all the guys in the room."
Jeff Skinner played in his second All-Star Game. Now that he's back, his focus is on this team and getting it into the playoffs.
Skinner's agent is in contract talks with Jason Botterill. The winger said those discussions will not be a distraction to him, "I don't think it will affect me at all.
"There's too much going on here to worry about, we're right in the mix of the race and every game is going to be huge for us, so as a player, that's more than enough to focus on.
Housley has been saying that he wants to get Matt Hunwick into a game. The head coach would not say if it will happen in Columbus. Hunwick has been practicing for two days with Marco Scandella, while Lawrence Pilut has been working with Nate Beaulieu.
