It has nearly been a full week since the Buffalo Sabres were last in game action, but the team gets back to work on Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center.
Buffalo has not dressed for a game since last week Thursday when they came up short in a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on home ice.
Since then, the Sabres have had some good news and bad news on their COVID-19 front with a number of players coming in and out of league protocols. As of Tuesday, the Sabres only have two players in COVID-19 protocols - forwards Tage Thompson and Peyton Krebs. Kyle Okposo and Alex Tuch returned to the ice for the morning skate on Tuesday, but neither will play in the evening's contest.
With Thompson landing on the NHL's COVID-19 Protocol list on Monday, the team announced it has called up 2020 first round pick Jack Quinn from the Rochester Americans to the team's practice squad. He will officially make his NHL debut Tuesday against Tampa Bay, and is likely to skate on a line with Dylan Cozens at center and Vinnie Hinostroza on the right wing.
Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato has really been impressed with where the 20-year-old is at in his second season of playing professional hockey.
“I think where he’s at, he was exceptional last week and things are getting easy for him right now in the American Hockey League," Granato said during his weekly appearance on the "Howard and Jeremy Show" on WGR. "This is way different from last season for him.”
Quinn will get a chance on Tuesday to skate with Cozens once again, after the two former first round picks were teammates just last year with Team Canada at the 2021 IIHF World Championship in Edmonton, Alberta. Granato is looking forward to seeing where those two can pick up from playing on the same team last winter.
“I think at some point, those two are going to have incredible chemistry," Granato admitted with Howard Simon and Jeremy White. "They complement each other very well.”
Meanwhile, the Sabres will continue to ride young goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who has played admirably since his most recent call up to Buffalo a while back. So far in eight games played this season, the 22-year-old has posted a 2-4-2 record with a 2.61 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. He's also been challenged in his recent stretch of games, facing an average of 33.5 shots per-game from the opposition.
Granato feels Luukkonen is capable of getting the workload at the NHL level, and is confident in his skill set to be the No. 1 option in Buffalo going forward.
“He’s progressing, he’s comfortable here, we don't see a reason to move him down [to Rochester],” Granato said.
You can listen to Granato’s entire interview during the “Howard and Jeremy Show” below:
Losi and Gangi
