Sabres ready for Philadelphia following 'mental reset'

It might not seem like a lot, but three days at home have made for a refreshed atmosphere in the Buffalo Sabres' dressing room. The team took the day off on Tuesday, then held back-to-back practice days on home ice in preparation for their game against Philadelphia on Saturday.
To understand what that time has meant, consider the stretch they just finished: 11 games in 19 days, with just one day off at home in that span. They navigated their way through four back-to-back sets, all of which required travel.
"It's been nice to not practice and spend a normal day at home, just kind of see the kids and hang out," alternate captain Kyle Okposo said following practice on Friday. "It's been a nice mental reset.

"I felt like the last month was kind of crazy in how many games we were playing and just kind of [being] all over the place. ... It was a lot. Just to have a little bit of normalcy, have a couple days between games, it's nice. When we do play tomorrow against Philly, we're going to be ready to go."

With that mental reset, Okposo said, comes a chance for the Sabres to re-establish their game. They managed to go 7-2-2 during that busy 11-game stretch, which began amid their NHL-best 10-game winning streak. That said, they're 0-2-2 in their last four contests, all one-goal losses.
Ironically, their most recent game - an overtime loss to Toronto on Tuesday - is more indicative of the way they want to play than some of the games during their winning streak. The Sabres dominated at the start of that contest and outshot one of the league's best teams, 41-30.
"I think during the win streak, we got away with a couple things," Okposo said. "Slow starts, maybe sitting back a little bit, and we just kind of found ways to win. That's great, because at the end of the day that's what matters, is getting two points. But we really want to get back to our process, our identity, the way that we can play every night. I think that's going to create a lot of success.
"You've got to really enjoy the winning streak] because it doesn't happen very much. You have to take the good and really enjoy it but also learn from what you're not doing well."
The Sabres had another strong start in their last meeting with the Flyers, **[a 5-2 win** at home on Nov. 21. With that game fresh on both teams' minds, they're expecting an opponent that will be rearing to go come Saturday afternoon.
"The start we had against Philly, they're going to have their horns up, so to speak," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "We understand that. But we have an opportunity to control what we can control, and that's our start. I think our guys are in a good place right now. You can see the energy out there in practice."
More notes from Friday's practice:

Tennyson, Wedgewood recalled

Carter Hutton and Marco Scandella were both absent on Friday and remain day-to-day with upper-body injuries. The Sabres recalled defenseman Matt Tennyson and goaltender Scott Wedgewood in their absence.
Tennyson will play Saturday, which will mark his first NHL appearance since April 2. He averaged 15:08 in 15 games with the Sabres last season. Wedgewood is likely to serve as Linus Ullmark's backup against the Flyers.
Here's how the lineup looked in its entirety, with Jack Eichel and Zach Bogosian back after taking maintenance days on Thursday:
53 Jeff Skinner - 9 Jack Eichel - 23 Sam Reinhart
43 Conor Sheary - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 29 Jason Pominville
17 Vladimir Sobotka - 71 Evan Rodrigues - 21 Kyle Okposo
10 Patrik Berglund - 22 Johan Larsson - 72 Tage Thompson
Extra: 28 Zemgus Girgensons, 81 Remi Elie
24 Lawrence Pilut - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 4 Zach Bogosian
82 Nathan Beaulieu - 5 Matt Tennyson
Extra: 48 Matt Hunwick
35 Linus Ullmark
31 Scott Wedgewood

Changes on the power play

The Sabres are 1-for-13 on the power play in their last five games, prompting Housley and his staff to tweak both units at practice.
The first group of five included Eichel playing on his strong side with Tage Thompson on the opposite flank, Jeff Skinner in the middle, Sam Reinhart at the net-front and Rasmus Ristolainen at the point.
Eichel has played primarily on the left this season, with one of the goals for the power play being to set him up for one-timers on his off-side. Playing his strong side opens the door for Eichel to distribute, with another dangerous shot still lurking on the left in Thompson.
"It gives me a couple options for one-timers," Eichel said. "You've got Reino in the middle for one-timers and as a support guy who I think makes a lot of really good plays. ... You've got Skinny around the net, who's obviously shown how good he can be there and Tommer on the backside shooting one-timers, which I think can be very dangerous for us. Then Risto's up to top with the opportunity to shoot the one-timer as well.
"I think it can present a lot of different threats to the opposing team, which is what we want to do. For me, it's distributing and knowing the right times to attack."
The second unit consisted of Okposo, Casey Mittelstadt, Conor Sheary and Rasmus Dahlin, with Jason Pominville and Evan Rodrigues rotating reps. One notable change on this unit had Okposo playing the net-front, a spot he hasn't been in much since joining the Sabres.
"When power plays are going well … if you're a net-front guy, I feel like you score a lot of goals," he said. "You just clean up a lot of the garbage around the net. It's just about working hard and getting back to just hunting pucks and making sure that everyone's got the puck in their hands and can make plays."
"Well, he tipped three pucks in yesterday on the power play, so I was happy to see that," Housley added. "He's a big guy, he's hard to move, he's got good eye-hand coordination, he can make a good low play."