Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres had practice Thursday before flying to Boston for Game 6 of their best of seven series with the Bruins. Boston avoided elimination, winning Game 5 in Buffalo on a David Pastrnak overtime goal.
As expected Josh Norris was on the ice and will go back to centering his line before he got injured which includes Josh Doan and Zach Benson. With Noah Ostlund going to miss some time, Ruff said putting Norris back there was the natural choice,
“For a period of time that line was really good for us and we put him back in his spot. I thought he had a great practice today, skated really well, feeling really good, it’s an opportunity where a guy like ‘Nory’ can just step up and he could be a big difference maker for us.”
Logan Stanley missed practice due to illness. Lindy Ruff said he was worse yesterday, but better today. Ruff said they’ll have to make an evaluation on Friday. Michael Kesselring practiced in his place alongside Conor Timmins.
Tage Thompson took over Game 1 helping the Sabres erase a 2-0 third period deficit to win 4-3. Thompson scored two goals in that game, but hasn’t had a goal since. Ruff said,
“You look at the opportunities in the game and a game ago they were talking about how they needed more out of Geekie and Pastrnak and this is the time of year where the attention towards your best players always comes to highlight, if one guy doesn’t have goals for two or three games, and it’s no different with McDavid in Edmonton with his start to the playoffs.
“I think if you look at the game and break it down, he had an unbelievable chance in the third period where Krebs fed him cross-crease and he didn’t finish. If that goes, you’re (Mike Harrington) probably not asking me this question today, but it didn’t go in, so we know our best players, we’re depending on them to be difference makers, but the cool thing about our team all year long has been that if the top guys weren’t producing, for a few games, we had other guys helping us win hockey games and it’s really about what our team has been about all year.
With the Rochester Americans eliminated from the playoffs, the Sabres have the Black Aces back. This group will skate separately from the team and are around just in case they’re needed. They include,
Devon Levi
Radim Mrtka
Vsevolod Komarov
Ryan Johnson
Anton Wahlberg
Konsta Helenius
Riley Fiddler-Schultz
Ruff is glad they’re up and gaining from this experience,
“I’ve always looked at it that it’s a great opportunity for those young guys to come up and be part of the experience. With the number of players we have here right now, there’s a point where you have too many and you don’t want it to be a distraction, so they’re going to get their workouts, we’re going to try to keep our game people separated, but at the same time they’re going to be training, they’re going to be watching and we know at any time one of those guys could be a guy that may need to be called on.”
With practice on Thursday, Ruff will not hold a morning skate on Friday.
Norris missed three games with an undisclosed injury
Norris missed three games with an undisclosed injury
