Eichel, Okposo take maintenance days

Jack Eichel and Kyle Okposo both took maintenance days Thursday and will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis, Buffalo Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said.
Michael Frolik, who has missed the past two games with an illness, was also absent. Krueger said Frolik skated on his own Thursday morning and is expected back at practice on Friday.
The Sabres invited an emergency third goaltender for practice to help manage the workload for Carter Hutton, who has made four straight starts but missed the team's previous two practices.

"We were pleased to see him feel pretty good through the skate today," Krueger said regarding Hutton. "Again, it's certainly not a serious thing. It's more nagging. We're optimistic about the way he reacted out on the ice today."

The Sabres have another day to get healthy prior to their back-to-back set this weekend, which begins Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh and concludes Sunday at home against Winnipeg. Those game carry added weight following a loss in Ottawa on Tuesday, which snapped a three-game winning streak.
"Let's be honest, we know the margin for error - that's actually something we were speaking about today - is very, very small," Krueger said. "We need to recover quickly from our loss in Ottawa. … Now it's about getting right back to where we first and not letting anybody pull us and derail us and get the confidence that we had through these past three home wins."
Buffalo has 22 games remaining and trails third-place Florida by eight points.
"There's much time or margin for mistakes right now, we all know that," defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen said. "I kind of take it as a new challenge, you know? We need to put some wins together and see where we end up."

Looking ahead to the deadline

Krueger has stressed a "small picture" approach since the start of training camp. He encourages players to park past results quickly and focus on daily improvement, never looking past the next contest.
Players are keeping that same mentality as it pertains to the trade deadline, which is next Monday.
"It's just small picture," forward Conor Sheary, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, said. "You can't worry about the outside noise or about what people are saying about me, about this team, any other players in here. I just worry about doing what I can to help this team win."
Ristolainen said he's had no trouble blocking out rumors in the media.
"I don't think it's hard at all," Ristolainen said. "It's not our jobs to worry about it. Our job is to play games and get better every day. I feel like we've been doing it. We haven't really thought about anything else besides what happened in that room there."

Linus Ullmark keeps progressing

Krueger spoke positively about the goalie's recovery from the lower-body injury he sustained on Jan. 28. Ullmark is three weeks into his original three-to-four-week timetable and has resumed skating.
"He's in a good place," Krueger said. "He's got some skates on now, which is obviously an important step to be taking, and let's see how it goes. But we are optimistic about the way rehab is going at this point. There's been no setbacks and he's on schedule."