Sabres open California trip with up-tempo practice

LOS ANGELES - Don Granato alerted the Sabres prior to taking the ice at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday that they were likely in for their hardest practice of the season. What ensued was a laborious, spirited skate designed to push the pace heading into a three-game California road trip.
The Sabres returned Saturday from a nine-day break and hosted the Calgary Flames, who already had two games to get up to speed following their bye. The Sabres struck first with a pair of goals before the Flames tilted the ice for the final 40 minutes of a 7-2 decision.
"We're trying to catch up and today was a day for us to push really hard so we can catch up faster," Granato said. "I liked the way our guys competed (in practice). … The issue that we had last night, it's not going to be solved with strategy. It's going to be solved with work ethic."

The Sabres had played 13 games in 22 days prior to the break. They found momentum within that stretch, churning out points in each of the final seven contests.
They had three days before their final game ahead of the break, a 5-1 loss to Carolina on February 1. Sabres captain Kyle Okposo identified similarities between that game and the loss to Calgary.
"I just don't think we managed the rest really well," he said. "We were in such a rhythm there playing so many games, and then you have two games where you have to start from a standstill and I just don't think we did a good enough job getting into the game."
The schedule picks up again beginning Monday against the Los Angeles Kings, which opens the three-game tour through California. The Sabres are 15-7-2 on the road this year, including a pair of successful Western Conference trips. They went 3-0-0 against Colorado, Vegas, and Arizona in December and 3-0-1 against Dallas, St. Louis, Winnipeg, and Minnesota last month.
Granato mixed up the forward lines for practice on Sunday, a move made in part to foster competition between players who usually skated as linemates. The players did sprints from the blue line and back; raced up and down the ice during rush drills; and ended with a small-area, 2-on-2 battle drill.
They embraced the grind, smiling through the sweat and celebrating wins within the drills.
"They were fully engaged and competed very well," Granato said. "… It was fun to see."
1. Granato did not confirm whether the lines used at practice would stick for the game against the Kings. The changes included Dylan Cozens moving to a line with Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson centering Casey Mittelstadt and Okposo.
Here's how the group lined up in full:
| February 12 | | --- | | LW | C | RW | | 53 Jeff Skinner | 24 Dylan Cozens | 89 Alex Tuch | | 37 Casey Mittelstadt | 72 Tage Thompson | 21 Kyle Okposo | | 74 Rasmus Asplund | 17 Tyson Jost | 71 Victor Olofsson | | 28 Zemgus Girgensons | 19 Peyton Krebs | 22 Jack Quinn | | 77 JJ Peterka | | | | LD | RD | G | | 23 Mattias Samuelsson | 26 Rasmus Dahlin | 41 Craig Anderson | | 25 Owen Power | 10 Henri Jokiharju | 31 Eric Comrie | | 78 Jacob Bryson | 46 Ilya Lyubushkin | 1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | | 38 Kale Clague | | |
2.The road trip opens Monday against the Kings. Coverage on MSG begins at 10 p.m. The puck drops at 10:30 on MSG and WGR 550.