Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Craig Anderson will see his first preseason action with the Sabres on Friday, as Buffalo hosts the Pittsburgh Penguins. Don Granato said the plan is to use Anderson for two periods with Dustin Tokarski playing the third.
The lineup only has a few players in it that played in Thursday's loss to the Detroit Red Wings. They include Robert Hägg, Sean Malone and maybe Casey Fitzgerald or Mark Pysyk.
The Sabres split their first two preseason games on the road, and with so many players in and out of the lineup, Granato hasn’t really been playing to a system.
“The focus and emphasis has been on conditioning, and there’s structure there, but we didn’t want to bring too much attention to systematic play yet. We’ll implement more starting now,” Granato said following Friday's morning skate.
Since the Sabres haven’t done anything in over 10 years, they get crucified on social media, even when they don’t deserve it. General manager Kevyn Adams has said many times that they have to earn the fans' trust back.
Anders Bjork was acquired by the Buffalo Sabres at the 2021 NHL Trade Deadline as part of the package from the Boston Bruins in return for Taylor Hall. The 25-year-old is gearing up for his first full season with the Sabres after playing 15 games with Buffalo, where he produced three goals and three assists for six points.
While Bjork has not spent much time with the Sabres organization just yet, he says the team will have to just tune out the outside noise that may come their way during the course of the year.
“I don’t think guys put much stock into it. It doesn’t really matter to us," Bjork said on Friday. "We know there’s not a huge expectation for us this year, and I think most of the guys just smile about it, because we want to turn heads. We want to be that team that people say were a lot better than they thought, and it shows people that they overlooked us. A lot of guys get excited about that, and you can feel it in the room.”
Join Brian Koziol at 7 p.m. ET, as he’ll pass the game onto Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on WGR Sports Radio 550.
FRIDAY’S LINES:
Forwards:
Skinner – Mittelstadt – Olofsson
Bjork – Girgensons – Hinostroza
Caggiula – MacInnis – Okposo
Pekar – Malone – Thompson
Defense:
Dahlin – Jokiharju
Hägg – Miller
Schuldt – Fitzgerald (Pysyk)
***Photo: Micheline Michaelina (@MiMiV4682)
