Practice Report | Benson back on the ice for Sabres practice

Zach Benson was back on the ice for practice Monday, his first skate with the team since being placed on injured reserve on Nov. 1.

Benson has missed the past six games with a lower-body injury after tallying two points (0+2) in his six appearances for the Sabres.

Sabres coach Don Granato shared he would like the forward to have more practice time before making any further decisions on his status.

Granato also said that forward Alex Tuch remains day to day with an upper-body injury, but is close to returning.

Tuch has recorded nine points (4+5) in his last seven games, including at least one goal in each of his last two contests.

“I mentioned from the outset he’s day to day," Granato said. "So, the issue he’s dealing with could have resolved in say, 48 hours. It hasn’t resolved yet, and he is waiting for it to resolve so he has full mobility and full motion. …He’s shown progress over the weekend. Lots of progress. I would say Friday’s a very good target for him.”

Here are more notes from Monday’s practice at KeyBank Center.

1. Here’s how the group lined up:

Forwards

53 Jeff Skinner – 72 Tage Thompson – 24 Dylan Cozens

12 Jordan Greenway – 37 Casey Mittelstadt – 77 JJ Peterka

71 Victor Olofsson – 19 Peyton Krebs – 13 Lukas Rousek

28 Zemgus Girgensons – 17 Tyson Jost – 21 Kyle Okposo

9 Zach Benson

15 Brandon Biro

Defensemen

23 Mattias Samuelsson – 26 Rasmus Dahlin

25 Owen Power – 10 Henri Jokiharju

75 Connor Clifton – 6 Erik Johnson

33 Ryan Johnson – 78 Jacob Bryson

Goalies

27 Devon Levi

1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

31 Eric Comrie

2. Matt Savoie made his NHL debut on Friday versus the Minnesota Wild and skated 3:55. The 19-year-old was assigned to the Wenatchee Wild of the Western Hockey League on Saturday to make room on the 23-man roster for defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, who was activated from IR.

Following practice, Granato shed light on the team’s decision to give Savoie limited minutes against Minnesota and send him back to his junior team.

“Obviously, that game was a very tight game that started with trading power plays and penalty kills and as that game went along, I did not feel comfortable as a coach putting him in a spot where it was a tight game and him being on the ice for a mistake against,” Granato said.

“So, that was a personal decision for me. And obviously with Samuelsson coming back, we no longer had a roster spot the next night. So, all of those things were the circumstances behind decisions but the biggest thing we were happy about was we could keep him around longer for the value of gaining experience. And that is the most important thing. And we’re very happy that he was able to do that. Would have loved for things to work out even more and more but the situation was what it was, and we had to do what we did.”

3. Sabres captain Kyle Okposo is set to play in his 1,000th game Tuesday when Buffalo hosts the Boston Bruins at KeyBank Center.

The organization will honor Okposo with a special pregame ceremony ahead of the game.

The first 10,000 fans in attendance will receive a commemorative stick case featuring a miniature replica of the customary silver stick given to players who reach the 1,000-game milestone.

Secure your seats here. 

4. Okposo reflected on what this honor means to him during a post-practice press conference.

"It’s obviously a nice thing. It's a special moment, something that you never really think about," Okposo said.

"It’s something that I will look back on very fondly. And I don’t do anything for praise or recognition, I just try to do the right thing. This is something that’s a byproduct of that, and it’s a special day for everybody that helped me get to this point, for sure, for my family and the people behind the scenes that have supported me throughout the whole way. So just going to try to enjoy it, soak everything."

5. Granato expressed what it means to have Okposo as the captain of his team and shared how he has evolved his game to continue playing.

"Yeah, he's been instrumental in helping me convey messages and giving me feedback as well. We had a long talk this morning about where our team is at both physically and psychologically. Great conversation. I bet you we talked for 25 minutes this morning. Easy conversations," Granato said.

"... Kyle, he has really evolved his game, even from last season to this season. You guys can ask him. His training was completely different or he added different things to his training to change body composition based on information he gained from last year and all through the season."