As Wilson grows comfortable in Buffalo, points are beginning to follow

Scott Wilson admits that it took him some time to settle in this season. With the whirlwind he went through, who can blame him?
Wilson played for three teams in the first two months of the season. He was traded from Pittsburgh, which he had helped win a Stanley Cup last spring, to Detroit after just three regular-season games. He only lasted 17 games with the Red Wings before being acquired by Buffalo on Dec. 4.
Nearly three months later - and on the eve of his return to Detroit - Wilson seems to have found his comfort zone. The forward has three goals and two assists in his last six games and 10 points (5+5) overall since joining the Sabres.

He had been held without a point in 20 games prior to his trade to Buffalo.
"I think finally being able to play a little bit with a team for longer than a couple weeks has really gone a long way," Wilson said. "I'm starting to really learn the systems. At the same time, when you're just working hard out there, trying to do the right things, you get some bounces."

Indeed, simplicity has been a key to Wilson's recent success. Earlier in the season, he explained, he was almost working toohard to create scoring opportunities as opposed to doing things right and letting the chances create themselves.
He finally scored his first goal in Winnipeg on Jan. 5, and then added a second while playing on a line with Ryan O'Reilly and Sam Reinhart in Calgary on Jan. 22. Those helped him get his confidence back.
"Kind of at the beginning, I almost wanted it too badly," he said. "Just finding open shots, being patient and shooting a lot more, you create a lot of stuff from just shooting the puck. I've been getting points from doing that so I'm going to continue to do that."
There's no question that Wilson has had more opportunity in Buffalo than he had in Detroit - he's averaging 12:15 of ice time with the Sabres as opposed to 7:28 with the Red Wings - but he's also taken matters into his own hands by shooting the puck when he's had the opportunity.
Wilson has put at least one shot on goal in all but two of his 19 games since the beginning of January. He's taken three or more shots six times in that span, including two five-shot performances.
The points he's accumulated have been products of that mentality. Four of his last five goals have come on quick shots, taken on rebounds around the net or coming in as the third man on the rush.

Against Washington on Monday, Wilson took a shot from high slot that turned into a deflection goal for Kyle Okposo:

"He has a great shot mentality when he keeps the game simple and he's not afraid to go to the hard areas," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "… That's the way goals are going to be scored from now until the end of the year. It's getting pucks, shooting them, and getting guys in front of the goalie, creating traffic."
Wilson will have a chance to put his skillset on display against his former team when he returns to Little Caesars Arena on Thursday, although he doesn't expect to have an extra chip on his shoulder.
"I don't think so," he said. "It will be cool to see the guys. Even though I was only there for a few weeks, in the hockey world you get to know guys pretty quick."
The same, it seems, can be said for his time in Buffalo.

McCabe to miss remainder of season

Jake McCabe is scheduled to undergo surgery on an injured shoulder and will miss the remainder of the season, the Sabres announced Tuesday. The estimated recovery time for the procedure is four to six months.
McCabe had missed seven games since the team hosted Anaheim on Feb. 8 after undergoing surgery on his thumb, a procedure for which recovery was estimated to take three to four weeks. Housley said McCabe had been dealing with his shoulder injury off and on, but it had not affected his play.
"It's interesting, speaking with him yesterday, he really wanted to come back and try to fight through this with the team," Housley said. "It just shows the character on his part. I think it was just a decision by [general manager] Jason [Botterill] to have the surgery right now to get ahead of it so he's ready to go next training camp."
McCabe is the second Sabres defenseman to have his season end due to injury. He joins Zach Bogosian, who underwent season-ending hip surgery in January.

The Amerks are coming to KeyBank Center

Brendan Guhle, Linus Ullmark and the Rochester Americans will continue their push for the postseason against the Syracuse Crunch at KeyBank Center on Wednesday night. The Amerks have collected at least a point in 36 of their last 45 games and currently sit in third place in the North Division.
Going to the game? Find the latest on Buffalo's AHL affiliate in our weekly Amerks update.
The puck drops at 7:05 p.m.

Wednesday's practice

Robin Lehner was a full participant in practice and will be ready to play on Thursday, Housley said. The goaltender was scratched on Monday to rest a nagging lower-body, but skated Tuesday while the rest of the team stayed off the ice.
Here's how the full lineup looked at practice:
9 Evander Kane - 90 Ryan O'Reilly - 23 Sam Reinhart
28 Zemgus Girgensons - 71 Evan Rodrigues - 21 Kyle Okposo
20 Scott Wilson - 22 Johan Larsson - 29 Jason Pominville
67 Benoit Pouliot - 10 Jacob Josefson - 13 Nicholas Baptiste (17 Jordan Nolan)
82 Nathan Beaulieu - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
6 Marco Scandella - 8 Casey Nelson
4 Josh Gorges - 93 Victor Antipin (41 Justin Falk)
40 Robin Lehner
31 Chad Johnson