Here are more notes from Friday’s practice at LECOM Harborcenter.
1. Here’s how the Sabres lined up with Thompson back in the fold:
FORWARDS
53 Jeff Skinner – 72 Tage Thompson – 89 Alex Tuch
77 JJ Peterka – 24 Dylan Cozens – 22 Jack Quinn
12 Jordan Greenway – 37 Casey Mittelstadt – 9 Zach Benson
28 Zemgus Girgensons – 19 Peyton Krebs – 21 Kyle Okposo
50 Eric Robinson – 71 Victor Olofsson
DEFENSEMEN
26 Rasmus Dahlin – 23 Mattias Samuelsson
25 Owen Power – 10 Henri Jokiharju
6 Erik Johnson – 75 Connor Clifton
GOALIES
1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
27 Devon Levi
31 Eric Comrie
2. The Sabres made a switch on the power play, with Owen Power replacing Rasmus Dahlin at the point on a unit with Thompson, Jeff Skinner, Casey Mittelstadt, and Alex Tuch.
Dahlin joined a unit with Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Zach Benson, and Dylan Cozens. Granato said the presence of Dahlin is a sign that the unit will be used more moving forward.
“That energy that Cozens, Quinn, and Peterka have – and Benson is on that group – that energy is something that’s really good,” Granato said. “I just felt, why not switch Dahls there? Dahls, as we know, he is our most competitive guy day in and day out. I have no hesitation saying that. He competes at an extremely high level. I think that second group has been good.”
3. Granato said the emphasis on the power play in the two days since its 0-for-6 performance against Boston has been on playing with more intensity, attacking directly, and employing a shot mentality, all of which Thompson echoed after practice.
“You shoot and recover pucks, it gets the PK running around and they’re less likely to be able to just sit on one person,” Thompson said. “I think you’ve got to move the puck quick, let the puck do the work, get them out and back, tire them out, and then that’s when the seams will open up and you’ll get some more scoring chances.”
