'It was like a reunion' | Cozens, Quinn, and Peterka found instant chemistry against Toronto 

Dylan Cozens had numerous worthy recipients to choose from when it came time to pass the sword in the Buffalo Sabres dressing room following their 9-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

Seven players scored goals in the victory, 14 recorded a point, and six had multi-point performances. The sword – awarded in the dressing room to the player of the game after each victory – could have gone to any of them.

Yet all of those players would agree that Cozens made the right decision in selecting Jack Quinn, who scored his first goal of the season in his second game following a comeback from offseason surgery to repair an injured Achilles tendon.

“It felt really nice,” Cozens said after practice on Friday. “We all missed him a lot. For him to come back and score in his second game back, it meant a lot to him and it meant a lot to us. We were all really happy for him, so I felt honored to be able to pass the sword to him.”

Sabres coach Don Granato made it a point to integrate Quinn slowly during his first game against Columbus. Quinn was back in a more familiar setting against Toronto, on the right wing alongside Cozens and JJ Peterka, marking a reunion of the “Kid Line” that energized Buffalo’s offense for long portions of last season.

Cozens felt like they hadn’t missed a beat.

“It’s like no time passed,” he said. “We just go out there and just play our game, just fly around up and down the ice and make plays. I think as a team, that’s what we did last night.”

The numbers support that opinion. The Sabres held lopsided advantages in shot attempts (13-6), scoring chances (6-3), and high-danger attempts (3-0) with the trio of Peterka, Cozens, and Quinn on the ice at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.

The line finally cashed in during the third period, when Peterka delivered a hard pass through the crease to set up Quinn’s goal at the back door.

“It seemed very natural,” Granato said. “They kicked it into high gear immediately, showed lots of chemistry immediately. I think Jack is … if not our smarter player, he’s certainly one of our smartest hockey players. He just has a feel for the game and makes others around life a lot easier because he’s so highly intelligent as a player.”

The trio makes it a point to play with pace and act aggressively. Without the puck, they’re looking to pressure and force turnovers. From there, their speed, skill, and chemistry make them dangerous on the rush.

“When we don’t have the puck, we’re all over the other team trying to create turnovers,” Quinn said. “And when we get it, we want to make plays and we want to go through them to score.”

Speed is one aspect of the line’s identity. The other is the youthful energy they share in the dressing room and carry onto the ice, a healthy addition for a Sabres team that took the ice Thursday looking to respond to a disappointing loss in their previous game.

“Just a fun line,” Peterka said. “Always joking around, trying to have a good time, trying to have fun.”

He added: “It was like a reunion.”

Here’s more from Friday’s practice.

1. Zemgus Girgensons skated with the team for the second consecutive day as he continues to recover from a lower-body injury. He was one of 15 forwards on the ice for practice.

Here’s how the group lined up:

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

71 Victor Olofsson – 19 Peyton Krebs – 21 Kyle Okposo

28 Zemgus Girgensons – 17 Tyson Jost – 50 Eric Robinson

Defensemen

26 Rasmus Dahlin – 23 Mattias Samuelsson

25 Owen Power – 75 Connor Clifton

33 Ryan Johnson – 6 Erik Johnson / 10 Henri Jokiharju (rotating)

Goalies

27 Devon Levi

1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

31 Eric Comrie

2. The Sabres have one last game before the holiday break on Saturday against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, where they earned a 5-1 win on Nov. 27.

While the group is looking to carry the momentum from their win over the Maple Leafs and string together wins, Granato emphasized the mindset of simply looking to the next game – and doing so in a stress-free, enthusiastic way.

“I think we’ve been going into games a little less excited, a little more tight than we should be,” Granato said. “And I say ‘should be’ because you can’t play that way. You can’t perform, can’t execute when you’re tight. The intent is you want to play with pace, with some enthusiasm.”

Pregame coverage on Saturday begins at 7 p.m. on MSG/MSG+ with puck drop scheduled for 7:30. Radio coverage can be found on WBEN 930 AM.