Sabres lean on familiarity at forward in preparation for Bruins

Don Granato leaned toward familiarity when drawing up the Sabres' forward lines for practice at LECOM Harborcenter on Friday, in preparation for Saturday's home game against the Boston Bruins.
The Sabres practiced without captain Kyle Okposo, who was experiencing general soreness and will be re-evaluated on Saturday morning. With Okposo absent, the group lined up as follows:

| November 11 | | --- | | LW | C | RW | | 53 Jeff Skinner | 72 Tage Thompson | 89 Alex Tuch | | 22 Jack Quinn | 24 Dylan Cozens | 77 JJ Peterka | | 19 Peyton Krebs | 37 Casey Mittelstadt | 71 Victor Olofsson | | 74 Rasmus Asplund | 28 Zemgus Girgensons | 29 Vinnie Hinostroza | | LD | RD | G | | 25 Owen Power | 26 Rasmus Dahlin | 41 Craig Anderson | | 78 Jacob Bryson | 45 Casey Fitzgerald | 31 Eric Comrie | | 20 Lawrence Pilut | 46 Ilya Lyubushkin | | | 38 Kale Clague | 10 Henri Jokiharju | |
The lineup features a reunion at the top with Tage Thompson centering Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch, a trio that had success last season and played together for a stretch of five games in October.
"I think they're the most comfortable," Granato said. "I think right now that's how the lines are laying out - who we feel is the most comfortable with each guy in each scenario in hopes to not complicate anything."
The Sabres are looking to end a run of four games without a win following their 7-4 loss to Vegas on Thursday. They are halfway through a four-game homestand, which opened with a 4-1 loss to Arizona. They previously dropped a pair of tightly contested road games to Carolina and Tampa Bay.
Granato said the coaching staff spent time watching film with each forward line on Friday morning, the message being to play a simpler, more direct game.
"I think we lost the last two games to teams that came in here and were willing to play simpler and harder," Granato said. "I don't mean that we didn't play hard. They played harder. They played with more intent, and we were sitting there empty handed after both nights.
"… We need to accept that as a challenge and do better in that area, taking more initiative to play harder and even simpler."
Here are more notes from Wednesday's practice.
1.Granato pointed to Thompson as an example of the direct game he hopes to see throughout the lineup moving forward.
Thompson took eight shots in the loss to the Golden Knights, which saw him attempt to engineer a comeback when he drove to the crease and roofed his second goal of the game during the third period. He leads the Sabres and is tied for fourth in the NHL with 10 goals this season.
"Tage's response the last few games is flat-out leadership," Granato said. "It's playing with the intention and the intensity that we need to see through each guy. Each guy can do what Tage has done in the last few games from the standpoint of just intent."
Video: AFTER PRACTICE: Granato
2. Granato shared an anecdote to illustrate his point on Thompson. Thompson returned to the bench during a recent game and was congratulated on a nice shift.
"He turned around and said, 'No. Do not say that, it was not a good shift,'" Granato said. "… His bar of excellence is set very high. His personal standard is high. And you see that each and every day."
3. The Sabres are in the midst of one of the most difficult stretches of their schedule, which opened last weekend with back-to-back road games against perennial Eastern Conference contenders in Carolina and Tampa Bay.
They returned home to face the Coyotes, the outlier in the stretch, before hosting a Golden Knights team that sits atop the NHL standings and had won eight games in a row. Their next opponent, the Bruins, rank second in the league to the Golden Knights and lead the Eastern Conference.
The stretch could also present long-term benefits for the NHL's youngest roster, with an early opportunity to learn from mistakes against top competition. Granato said the focus heading into Saturday has less to do with the Bruins and more to do with self-correction.
"You have an extremely prolific group of hockey players playing at a peak level in Vegas and you have the same coming in tomorrow night," he said. "The difference last night was we gave up too much free and easy chances against us. Literally free and easy, they didn't have to work for several chances.
"That has to be cleaned up. And I think we can play with a greater intent and intensity. So, it's really about us doing those things. If we're going to have success tomorrow, it's us cleaning those things up."
4.Saturday is Hockey Fights Cancer Night, presented by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. The first 10,000 fans will receive a commemorative scarf (pictured below).
Tweet from @BuffaloSabres: The first 10,000 fans at tomorrow's game will receive a special #HockeyFightsCancer scarf 💜Get more details about the game: https://t.co/HoAEvKiSLa pic.twitter.com/YszW7bphTt
Find more information on the night here.