Eichel, Sheary among returnees at practice on Sunday

With exhibition play behind them and their season opener against the Boston Bruins on Thursday quickly approaching, the Sabres' opening-night roster is beginning to take shape.
Buffalo took the ice for practice at Harborcenter on Sunday with 24 players - 22 skaters and two goalies. The deadline for submitting their final 23-man roster is Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Jack Eichel, Rasmus Ristolainen and Marco Scandella were back at practice after sitting out of Friday's preseason finale to nurse minor ailments. Conor Sheary (upper body) also skated with the team for the first time since the first weekend of camp.

Sabres coach Phil Housley said Sheary's status for Thursday's opener will be a day-to-day evaluation, but the forward's competitive fire was already a welcome addition at practice.
"He's strong in the battles and he plays the game the right way, a 200-foot game," Housley said. "He gets on the forecheck, he can play in all situations. I know he's been out for a little bit here but it's good to have him back and we'll have some quality practice time leading up to Boston."

Sheary skated on a line with Patrik Berglund at center and Tage Thompson alternating with Alex Nylander on the right wing. He'll have at least two more practices to build chemistry with his linemates ahead of the game against Boston.
"It's definitely tough not being around the guys," he said. "You want to create chemistry and meet your teammates and linemates and stuff like that during camp. I think I'll adjust pretty quickly here in the first week of practice and hopefully going into the first game I'll be able to compete and be able to play."
Johan Larsson and Zach Bogosian remained absent with injuries. Larsson sustained a lower-body injury while blocking a shot in Pittsburgh on Wednesday; Bogosian sustained a lower-body injury during the team's game against Columbus in Clinton, N.Y. on Tuesday. Housley said that both players are day-to-day.
Scott Wilson, meanwhile, had to be helped off the ice after sustaining an injury during practice.
"Unfortunate," Housley said. "He got tangled up there and then came off the ice. I haven't talked to our trainers yet, so I don't have any answer for you at this point."

Competition continues

While the roster is close to completion, Housley emphasized the potential for change to occur between now and Thursday.
The team's most recent moves included Lawrence Pilut being reassigned to Rochester and Nick Baptiste, Justin Bailey and Matt Tennyson being placed on waivers on Saturday. All three players cleared, but only Tennyson was at practice on Sunday.
"I think that the plan right now is just to have some bodies up here for practice and we'll see where that takes us," Housley said regarding Tennyson. "We've got to err on caution with Risto and Scandy and it's good to have eight D so right now that's where he is."
UPDATE (4:51 p.m.): The Sabres have assigned Bailey and Baptiste to Rochester.
Tennyson skated on a pair with Brendan Guhle, who to this point has survived a competition that included a strong push from the rookie Pilut. Housley felt that Guhle progressed as camp wore on, and the defenseman agreed.
"I think it wasn't overwhelming," Guhle said. "I didn't do anything spectacular, but I think I was solid, I built my game from the first game and the best game was the last game. If I can keep doing that, I think I'll be in a good spot."
Up front, the rotation of Thompson and Nylander on a line with Berglund and Sheary could open the door for more competition between the young forwards in the coming days.
"They earned the right to be here, number one," Housley said. "The final roster, that's a different day. But I wanted to get some rotations in for Alex. … They're still a big part of this team to this point, but we'll see where that takes us tomorrow and the next day leading up to Boston."

Lines at practice

53 Jeff Skinner - 9 Jack Eichel - 23 Sam Reinhart
43 Conor Sheary - 10 Patrik Berglund - 72 Tage Thompson / 92 Alexander Nylander
28 Zemgus Girgensons / 20 Scott Wilson - 71 Evan Rodrigues - 29 Jason Pominville
17 Vladimir Sobotka - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 21 Kyle Okposo
6 Marco Scandella - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
19 Jake McCabe - 26 Rasmus Dahlin
82 Nathan Beaulieu - 8 Casey Nelson
45 Brendan Guhle - 5 Matt Tennyson
40 Carter Hutton
35 Linus Ullmark