Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Buffalo Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin went through a full practice on Thursday, and took reps on the No. 1 power play unit. He will make his return to the lineup from back spasms on Friday when Buffalo hosts the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"I felt really good, so yes, I’m ready," said Dahlin following Thursday's practice.
Time will tell how the Sabres react when they get their captain back. When he got hurt, they had lost three games in-a-row. Now they’ve lost four-straight games in regulation, and are winless in 11-straight.
Dahlin has been telling his teammates that what happened before is in the past.
"You can’t do anything about what’s been done. All you have to do now is move forward. You have to start a new page and build," Dahlin said.
"You’ve seen a lot of games this year, and we are a good team. This is not who we are. So I’m excited for the challenge tomorrow, and hopefully we can do something really, really good and start the new page."
Dahlin saw the same things lately that we’ve seen, where mistakes turn into more mistakes, which turn into goals, which turn into losses.
"One goal turns into a couple goals-against, and I think that’s where our main focus is. We can let in a goal in the first seconds of our next game, but we can’t do anything about it. We’ve just got to move forward. It’s just swag," Dahlin said.
Too often this team backs off and plays not to lose, instead of playing to win.
"It’s the easiest thing to talk about, but we don’t have a choice. We have to do it, because what’s been done isn’t good enough," the captain said.
I asked Dahlin about all the penalties the Sabres take. Buffalo is second in the league with 141 penalties. The Vegas Golden Knights have taken the least amount of penalties this year with 72.
Since the 2022-23 season, Dahlin has taken 80 penalties, which is seventh in the NHL. Had he not been injured lately, he’d likely be fifth.
Dahlin wasn’t mad about the question, but you could tell as he answered, he was getting more angry and passionate about the situation they’re in.
"Maybe it’s in our head a little bit too much to take any, and same there, we’ve just got to play," he said emphatically.
"We have to get back to swagger. We have to play our game. We know we’re a good team when we do that."
Both Ryan McLeod and Jordan Greenway missed practice on Thursday. Ruff says McLeod is questionable for Friday's game against the Maple Leafs, while Greenway is going to be out for a long time.
"Greenway is having surgery, and he’s going to miss a significant amount of time," the Sabres head coach said.
If there's any good news with Greenway, Ruff doesn’t expect the winger to be out for the season.
Ruff prepares his team for these situations when a team scores on you. It’s not supposed to snowball on this team, but it does, because they start playing not to lose instead of playing to win.
It's the same for Ruff as what Don Granato experienced with this group. You tell them and tell them, but they just can’t get to it when the game gets tight. Ruff told us exactly what he tells them, and it’s, what he calls, non-negotiables.
"Those shifts after a goal are important shifts. Get it in deep, establish a forecheck, get it out so that doesn’t build momentum for the team you’re playing," Ruff explained.
Many don’t understand why there haven’t been moves to try to get this hockey club out of this. As I watch this team, I’m seeing a group that just seems to be waiting for changes.
"Kevyn and myself are in constant communication about trying to make this team better. And I think every team in this league is in the same category, whether you’re a good team, in the middle of the pack, you’re exploring ways to make your team better," Ruff said. "The answer is we've gotta keep working with what we got, and we’ve got to keep that communication going. Is there ways to make the team better? We’ve lost another key piece (Greenway), so that communication will be ongoing."
It seems like there’s nobody on this team that just wants to put them on their backs and say, "Follow me." Ruff has talked to the leaders of this group about that, which includes his captains.
"We met again today, and I said, 'It’s you guys. It’s this group, the five or six guys that I have that have been around more than the Kulichs and the Bensons, and those types of guys. It’s you guys that I’m handing the puck off to, you’re the guys that have to be the difference makers,'" Ruff explained.
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THURSDAY LINES:
Forwards:
Peterka – Cozens – Quinn
Krebs – Kulich – Benson
Zucker – Thompson – Tuch
Malenstyn – Lafferty – Aube-Kubel
Defense:
Bryson – Jokiharju
Samuelsson – Power
Bryson – Dahlin
Gilbert - Clifton