Okposo's milestone comes amid a resurgent offensive season for the 33-year-old. He scored his 18th goal on Sunday, his highest total since his first season with the Sabres. He is on pace to finish with 48 points, which would be his highest mark with the franchise.
"I just think I'm trying to take care of what I can control," Okposo said. "In the past number of years, there's just been a number of things going on that I like to try and help fix, make better around here. I'm just trying to take care of myself and everything else is kind of falling into place.
"Definitely playing a lot more relaxed than I have in the past few seasons. The end of last year was a good segue into this season for me. I'm just going to go play hockey. It's been nice to get some consistency back and produce at a level I think I'm capable of."
Even as his offensive role fluctuated, Okposo's role as a leader in the Sabres' dressing room has been consistent since his first season with the team in 2016-17.
Casey Mittelstadt last season referred to Okposo as the team's "rock" - the same term Granato used to describe him on Sunday. Rasmus Asplund recently credited Okposo with setting an example for young players to follow in terms of his day-to-day habits.
"You need to be almost like a robot, and that's a thing I've been learning and really learned from a guy like Okposo," Asplund said. "He comes in the rink like same time every day, does the same things like a robot."
Video: PREGAME: Granato
Will Butcher will rotate in on defense in place of Mark Pysyk. Butcher, who did not play in Buffalo's last two games against Nashville and Florida, has a point in each of his last three contests.
Craig Anderson will start in goal.
Find the full projected lineup in the chart below.
| April 5 vs. Carolina |
| --- |
| | C | RW |
| 53 Jeff Skinner | 72 Tage Thompson | 89 Alex Tuch |
| 74 Rasmus Asplund | 37 Casey Mittelstadt | 71 Victor Olofsson |
| 19 Peyton Krebs | 24 Dylan Cozens | 29 Vinnie Hinostroza |
| 28 Zemgus Girgensons | 20 Cody Eakin | 21 Kyle Okposo |
| | | |
| LD | RD | G |
| 26 Rasmus Dahlin | 10 Henri Jokiharju | 41 Craig Anderson |
| 23 Mattias Samuelsson | 78 Jacob Bryson | 31 Dustin Tokarski |
| 4 Will Butcher | 45 Casey Fitzgerald | |
| | | |
The Sabres opened a stretch of six games in 10 days against four of the Eastern Conference's top five teams with their 5-3 loss to the Panthers on Sunday.
The home portion of the stretch concludes tonight. The Sabres then hit the road for a four-game trip with stops at Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, and Toronto.
"For me, it's phenomenal," Okposo said. "We want to keep pushing our guys and we want them to be challenged. If I didn't think our guys could improve, yeah, I wouldn't want them to be challenged. I'd want to play an easy game and maybe get two points.
"But I think the challenge of it, forcing our guys to strive, even the components of survive at times, I think bodes well for us because we're in the business of improvement right now. We've watched our guys improve and nothing helps you improve more than maintaining your confidence, one, and being challenged, two. I like where we sit in both those."
Carolina sits atop the Metropolitan Division standings largely due to its ability to prevent goals. The Hurricanes rank 1st in goals against per game (2.35), 5-on-5 goals allowed (112), and penalty kill percentage (88.1).
Goaltender Frederik Andersen ranks second in the NHL with a .928 save percentage in 47 contests. He will start in goal.
