The Sabres will meet the Maple Leafs at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton, Ontario for the Heritage Classic on Sunday. It will be a rematch of their meeting in Toronto on March, a 5-1 Sabres victory.
The Maple Leafs have dropped two of four contests since then, including a 5-4 overtime loss to the Coyotes at home on Thursday. Including their loss to the Sabres, they have allowed four or more goals in six of their last seven games.
Those facts will be top of mind for a Toronto team jostling for position atop the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs rank third with 79 points, one behind the second-place Lightning and four ahead of the fourth-place Bruins.
"We're not sneaking up on them," Granato said.
The Sabres embraced the spotlight on Thursday, when the return of former captain Jack Eichel coincided with a nationally broadcast game. They fed off the energy of an emotional crowd and turned in a full-team effort that required multiple fights and four penalty kills along with timely goals and saves.
They got to work Friday on making sure they replicate that performance outdoors.
"They have a lot of pressure on them," Rasmus Dahlin said. "We've just got to go out there and play the same way. We've got to be harder on their top lines and just got to compete like we did yesterday. When we play that way, we're so hard to play against and it's fun to play with our team when we play that way, for sure."
The Sabres will have an outdoor practice at Tim Horton's Field on Saturday, the benefits of which will be twofold - a chance to acclimate to the cold, windy conditions they expect to play in on Sunday as well as an opportunity to soak in what for some could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The practice will be followed by a skate for players and their families.
"It's something that the families are going to get to share with us, come up and watch practice, skate after," Tage Thompson said. "I think it's just going to be a really cool experience for everyone involved. Something not many people get to do. So, I'm just trying to take it all in, enjoy the experience."
Rasmus Asplund (lower body) and Casey Fitzgerald (upper body) were both absent after sustaining injuries during the game on Friday.
Granato said Asplund "felt good" but will undergo further imaging. He did not have an update on Fitzgerald's status.
Here's how the group lined up:
| March 11 |
| --- |
| LW | C | RW |
| 53 Jeff Skinner | 72 Tage Thompson | 89 Alex Tuch |
| 19 Peyton Krebs | 24 Dylan Cozens | 29 Vinnie Hinostroza |
| 71 Victor Olofsson | 37 Casey Mittelstadt | 21 Kyle Okposo |
| 96 Anders Bjork | 20 Cody Eakin | 15 John Hayden |
| | 17 Mark Jankowski | |
| LD | RD | G |
| 26 Rasmus Dahlin | 10 Henri Jokiharju | 41 Craig Anderson |
| 8 Robert Hagg | 13 Mark Pysyk | 31 Dustin Tokarski |
| 23 Mattias Samuelsson | 78 Jacob Bryson | |
| 4 Will Butcher | 33 Colin Miller | |
