Krebs returns to practice, expected to play Monday

Peyton Krebs practiced with the Sabres on Sunday and is expected to be in the lineup when they host the Detroit Red Wings at KeyBank Center on Monday afternoon.
Krebs entered the NHL's COVID-19 protocol on Jan. 4. The positive test came at an inopportune time for the 20-year-old centerman, who began his tenure with the organization in Rochester after being acquired from Vegas in early November. He made his Sabres debut on Dec. 29 and played three games before being sidelined, notching his first point with a highlight-reel assist in the third outing.
He was asymptomatic throughout the duration of his 10-day isolation but did not meet the requirements to test out of protocol.

"I felt great," he said. "I was working out every day at my house. Yeah. I mean, you've just got to kind of look at things you can control and that was not one of them. So, just try to do what I could to stay in shape. Obviously, it was frustrating, but I'm here now so it's good to be back."
Video: AFTER PRACTICE: Krebs
Krebs' return leaves the Sabres with just one COVID-related absence in goaltender Dustin Tokarski, who has practiced with the team since Dec. 27 but has not been cleared for games due to lingering symptoms. Buffalo has had 11 other players enter and clear protocol.
Krebs spent Sunday on a line with Kyle Okposo and Vinnie Hinostroza. He was linemates with Okposo during his first three games with the team and said he has already built a rapport with the Sabres' alternate captain.
"Any play that maybe he sees or I see, we just kind of chat about it," Krebs said. "'OK, that's where you're gonna be on this situation,' so next time I know and don't have to think about it, he's just there. After a shift, 'Did you see this? Did you see that?' Things like that.
"He's been great for me. I look up to him a lot in terms of what he's done in his career, what he's doing now. So, it's great to have a guy like that to kind of lean on."
A pass-first forward with a gift for playmaking, Krebs hopes to be a player the Sabres can lean on moving forward as well.
"My goal tomorrow is just to go out there, have some fun," he said. "I missed that feeling of making a pass, making plays, skating hard. That's what I want to do tomorrow, just make everyone around me better and just have a lot of fun."
Fans have through Monday to vote to send Tage Thompson to the NHL All-Star Game as the Atlantic Division's "Last Man In." Vote up to 10 times per day at NHL.com/Vote.
Thompson - who has enjoyed a breakout season with 13 goals and 23 points - was asked Sunday what the nomination meant.
Tweet from @BuffaloSabres: When @Buccigross needed help the most, @TThompson\_97 was there.He's a #TallStar. Let's make him an #NHLAllStar: https://t.co/686OvD5ezp pic.twitter.com/pfcEFAIyQI
"It's an honor," he said. "Anytime you get recognized like that it's an honor, it's a good feeling. But obviously there's still more to do. You can always get better and continue to grow and improve. So, like I said, it's a nice little accomplishment to get an honor like that but I shouldn't be satisfied."
Granato was blunt in his assessment of the Sabres' 4-0 loss in Detroit on Saturday, which followed one of their better performances of the season in Nashville.
"We played hard in Nashville, we worked," Granato said. "And I thought they earned what they got in Nashville. I think going into last night, it was definitely a young characteristic when you just think you can turn the switch back on and somebody else's building.
"You have a team that's waiting for you and that had been struggling in their own right, and they set the tone, set the pace through work ethic and we just felt we were going to carry right over from Nashville and we forgot the work ethic part.
"So, I don't think it was a point of being lazy or not caring, it was a point of not having enough experience to know we have to be very committed to details in the game and making the game hard."
The Sabres have a chance to rebound against the same opponent when they host the Red Wings on Monday.
"I think that's the best possibility we could have, getting back at 'em right away," Thompson said. "We have a little unfinished business with them after the way we played the other night. Now's the perfect time to respond."
Zemgus Girgensons (lower body) and Jacob Bryson (upper body) were absent with injuries and will both miss the game on Monday.
Here's how the group lined up in their absence:
| January 16 | | --- | | LW | C | RW | | 53 Jeff Skinner | 72 Tage Thompson | 89 Alex Tuch | | 74 Rasmus Asplund | 24 Dylan Cozens | 71 Victor Olofsson | | 29 Vinnie Hinostroza | 19 Peyton Krebs | 21 Kyle Okposo | | 96 Anders Bjork | 20 Cody Eakin | 15 John Hayden | | 57 Brett Murray | 17 Mark Jankowski | | | LD | RD | G | | 26 Rasmus Dahlin | 10 Henri Jokiharju | 80 Aaron Dell | | 4 Will Butcher | 13 Mark Pysyk | 32 Michael Houser | | 8 Robert Hagg | 33 Colin Miller | 31 Dustin Tokarski |