That was Buffalo Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger talking to the gathered media post practice yesterday concerning their upcoming schedule. His Sabres squad had just come back from participating in the 2019 Global Series which featured a somewhat compact schedule in October and early November, five days to travel and acclimate to Stockholm, Sweden for their back-to-back against the Tampa Bay Lightning last weekend and another four days to reacclimate to North America. Sunday was a travel day with Monday and Tuesday being mandated days off. The Sabres resumed practice yesterday and will have a game tonight at home against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Krueger said that the team will have a pregame skate this morning because they haven't been on the ice and mentioned how he and his club will be approaching 21 games in 39 days leading up until the Christmas break. "The reality is we have the 21 games 'til Christmas and we're breaking it up into little groups. We've got five games, two-day pause; six games, two-day pause; six games, two-day pause; four games."
It's a tough stretch the bulk of which will come the rest of this month where they play 10 games in 17 days including a final week where they play five in seven with bookending back-to-backs against division foes that begins with a Florida road trip (at the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay) and ends with a home-and-home with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"I think if you break it down into smaller sections in your mind," said Kreuger, "you deal with those as you go through it. Once we enter the games we'll really have to use our experience from the beginning of the season how to manage energy between games.
"I feel the fitness-level, other than our injuries now, the guys have a strong foundation. We've been doing a lot of work off-ice that we believe will help us."
Krueger came out and said that they "need to use the whole lineup" with this upcoming stretch, something that may be easier said than done.
As chronicled in the Sabres have become a one-line team during the 1-5-1 slump their embroiled in. Sam Reinhart, Jack Eichel and Victor Olofsson were responsible for all five goals in the two losses to Tampa in Stockholm and have scored seven of the team's 12 goals during their seven-game slide. Of the remaining five goals, three came from defenseman, one from 40-goal scorer Jeff Skinner and the other coming from the now-injured Vladimir Sobotka.
It's a problem they'll need to address and they may need to do so without the services of forward Marcus Johansson, who's 10 points (4+6) ranks him tied for fifth on the team. Johansson was held out of practice yesterday and will be a game-day decision today with Krueger saying he's day-to-day and adding "it's just something we're being careful about."
With Sobotka out, the Sabres recalled forward Curtis Lazar from Rochester. Lazar was signed to a one-year deal in the off season and the former first round pick is looking for a new lease on his NHL life. Lazar will probably be in the lineup regardless of whether Johansson plays as he was tabbed to take on Sobotka's role. We'll see how it all unfolds at the skate this morning. Yesterday's lines at practice were:
Olofsson - Eichel - Reinhart
Skinner - Rodrigues - Sheary
Vesey - Mittelstadt - Lazar
Girgensons - Larsson - Okposo
Buffalo also has the services of defenseman Marco Scandella . Scandella has been on injured reserve since October 25th with an injury that disrupted what seemed to be the Sabres best defensive pairing (Henry Jokiharju.) His return clogs up the blueline a bit but with this upcoming slate it's all hands on deck and they may eventually need injured defenseman Zach Bogosian as well. Bogosian has missed the entire season after undergoing surgery that cut last season short. He began skating with the team yesterday and could return to the lineup by the end of the month. With both Scandella and Bogosian practicing, here's what the pairings looked like yesterday:
McCabe - Ristolainen
Dahlin - Miller
Scandella - Jokiharju
Bogosian - Montour - Gilmour
The Sabres kick off their "Twenty-one games to Christmas" with a matchup tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that they haven't had much success against lately. Buffalo has not beaten the 'Canes since March 22, 2016 having gone 0-2-1 in each of the last three years and are a paltry 1-6-3 in their last 10 games against Carolina (4-4-2 in their last 10 games at home.)
The 'Canes had been struggling as well but stopped a four-game losing streak with an explosive 8-2 home win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday. As of now they are in the first wild card spot in the East, one point ahead of Buffalo having played one more game.
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