Philadelphia, Pa. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres got some good news and some bad news at their morning skate on Saturday.
Jordan Greenway did not skate and will not play against the Philadelphia Flyers, putting Jiri Kulich into the lineup.
Tage Thompson was back skating with the team, and Lindy Ruff is very encouraged by his progress. He is looking at a potential return to the lineup on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings.
Thompson stayed out on the ice, and said he felt great afterwards. Ruff did mention that if Saturday were a playoff game, both Thompson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen would probably be playing. However, with the next game not until Wednesday, there was no point in pushing things.
Thompson agrees with that, because there have been times in his career where he has pushed things and he’s been out longer.
"It was something in that Montreal game, about halfway through the first period, I figured it was probably a smarter decision to pull myself out instead of trying to push through it and make it worse," said Thompson on Saturday.
"I’ve dealt with injuries in previous seasons that are lingering, nagging injuries and I don’t want this to be the same thing. It’s better to take care of it the right way now and miss a couple of games, and be 100% healthy for the remainder of the season."
Thompson says he got treatment in-between periods and wanted to see in the second period if it had gotten better, but it hadn’t.
"It was off a faceoff where I took the draw ,and went to take a couple strides to join the rush and I just felt something, and thought it would go away. But it lingered for the rest of the first period," Thompson admitted.
Ryan McLeod had Thompson’s normal winger Alex Tuch on his line on Thursday, and they connected on a pretty, yet, skillful goal. McLeod made it look like he was going to go behind the net and come out the other side, but Tuch read it and backed off, giving McLeod a lane to find him backdoor for the game-tying goal.
Thompson has liked his new teammate since being acquired in the offseason from the Edmonton Oilers.
"McLeod’s an unbelievable player," Thompson said. "I don’t think a lot of people have gotten to see the skill that he has as much as we do in practice, but he has a ton of skill and speed, and thinks the game extremely well. He’s one of those guys that’s so dynamic with his speed that it opens up ice for guys.
"On that play there, he finds Bo [Byram] and gets it back, and then makes an unbelievable pass to 'Tuchy', who’s driving the net. 'Tuchy' does a good job of getting himself to a spot, gets guys to collapse on him, and he’s smart enough to pop off, and 'Clouder' makes a really good play there."
The point Thompson was making is the Sabres didn’t let injuries get in the way of finding a way to win.
Kulich played four games in Rochester and had two goals and an assist for three points. Ruff is curious what the 20-year-old can do at center, but it won’t be against the Flyers.
"I think initially we’ll keep him at the wing, but there’s an opportunity to get him in the middle, but it is [something we wants to look at]," said Ruff on Saturday. "I think he seems more comfortable, and I think a first-year player in the NHL playing the middle is sometimes a bit of a struggle. But it's something I think can be an asset for us."
Buffalo has won four of its last five games, and Devon Levi will get the start in goal, playing his third-straight game. Levi stopped 24-of-27 shots in the win over the St. Louis Blues, but is still trying to get back to playing like he’s capable of.
Ruff believes Levi is coming along.
"He made a lot of good saves inside that game," he said of his goalie. "You may look at a couple goals and you think maybe one of them you’d want back, but you’ve got to look at the other side that there was a couple of plays, even in the third period, that he made real good saves on to allow us to win the hockey game. So I think there’s a little more comfort now, and he’s getting a little bit more of a rhythm with playing."
Levi is 2-4-0 this season with a 3.87 goals-against average and an .870 save percentage.
The Sabres are 4-1-0 in their last five games against the Flyers.
Buffalo has a power play goal in five-straight games and 8-out-of-9. It’ll be hard on Saturday, because the Flyers are third in the NHL on the penalty kill.
The Sabres have scored 23 goals in their last five games.
When it comes to points percentage, Buffalo is 18th at .500, while Philadelphia is 23rd at .471.
The Flyers have won 3-out-of-4 games, going 3-0-1. They’ve gone 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.
Former Sabres defenseman Erik Johnson is looking to play in his 1,000th NHL game on Saturday. The Flyers have two other former Sabres in Rasmus Ristolainen and Nic Deslauriers
Matvei Michkov is second in NHL rookie scoring with six goals and seven assists for 13 points. He was the seventh overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Ivan Fedotov gets the call in goal for Philadelphia. He’s 2-3-0 this season with a 3.98 goals-against average and an .862 save percentage.
The 27-year-old was the Flyers' seventh-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. He played in the KHL until last season. When he came to North America once his season with CSKA Moscow was over, he played three games with the Flyers.
It sounds like Flyers captain Sean Couturier could return from injury on Saturday. In 16 games, he has three goals and five assists for eight points.
Travis Konecny is their leading scorer with nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points.
Join me, Brian Koziol and Pat Malacaro for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST when you’ll hear from Ruff, Thompson and McLeod.