Entering break on hot streak, Sabres look forward to second-half growth

The Sabres had an early practice at LECOM Harborcenter on Thursday morning, just a day after finding out that their Friday matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning was being rescheduled due to impending inclement weather in Western New York.
Sabres captain Kyle Okposo and teammates will now embark on a short holiday break to spend valuable time with family and friends, before returning for a morning skate on Tuesday ahead of their game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
"We're bummed we don't play Friday, there's no question," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "We love playing, but it's rescheduled. We'll get that game back, obviously. So now you look at it and you say the break is good."

Heading into the break on a four-game win streak, Okposo and Granato don't believe that the time off will have a negative impact on the team's momentum. Granato also expressed that the time away will give the Sabres' depleted defensive unit time to get healthy and well rested.
Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson both played just under 30 minutes in each of Buffalo's last three games as Jacob Bryson and Owen Power work their way back from injuries.
"It's nice for those guys to have a little bit of a breather here," Granato said. "For us, you just got to keep moving forward. I'm not too concerned with any momentum or things like that. It's just, keep getting better, keep moving forward. I think our guys are hungry for that and take that approach, so this could be a good thing."
"You're going to have breaks where you're going to have to start again," Okposo said. "…We're just looking forward to the challenge of coming back. We're in a good spot right now."
As the leader of the league's second-youngest team, Okposo likes what he has seen from the group as the Sabres continue to mature and forge their identity.
"I think we are developing an identity of how we want to play and obviously we're scoring a lot of goals right now and have all season, so part of our identity is creating offense but it's also when we play teams that try and lock us down and really try and clog up the neutral zone, it's how do we handle that," Okposo said.
"Are we able to play a mature game and are we able to take the opportunities as they come? I think that we're starting to get there. We still have a long way to go, but I like the way the group is trending, for sure."

After dropping a home-and-home series to the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 9 and 10, the Sabres responded with four straight wins over Los Angeles, Colorado, Arizona, and Las Vegas.
Okposo felt the games served as a turning point in the team's progress.
"You play Pittsburgh, and they essentially didn't forecheck in the neutral zone. They just sat back and waited for us," Okposo said. "We weren't able to get two wins, but that situation, that experience helped us grow."
"…We're learning those different lessons as the year goes on and we're going to continue to learn them but at the same time, hey, let's look objectively where we're at and we think we can go and let's try to make some hay here."
Ahead of the new year, Buffalo holds a 7-2-1 record in its last 10 games and leads the league with 126 goals and an average of 3.94 goals per game in 32 games played this season.
With a 16-14-2 overall record, the Sabres sit just four points away from a playoff spot.
"This is a group that is very vested in the Buffalo Sabres and the community here. They want to be the group of guys that this community is proud of," Granato said. "…. I know they go on a break, but I know they're also on a mission. They're going to spend a lot of time thinking about the next part of the season moving ahead."