Practice Report | Comrie to miss time with lower-body injury, Clifton suspended two games 

Goaltender Eric Comrie is week-to-week with a lower-body injury, Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams announced prior to Saturday’s practice at KeyBank Center.

Comrie sustained the injury during the second period of Friday’s game against the New Jersey Devils, which was his third start of the season.

“He had an MRI first thing this morning. Looks like he’s going to miss some time,” Adams said. “You know, you’ve got to see over the next couple days how it settles down and everything, but he’ll be in that situation where it’s probably at least a few weeks. But like I said, you won’t know until the first 48 hours and you kind of get more information. But that’s what it looks like as of now.”

With fellow goaltender Devon Levi still day to day with a lower-body injury, the Sabres recalled Devin Cooley from the Rochester Americans on Saturday.

Cooley was on the ice for practice and is expected to back up Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in Sunday’s matchup with the Colorado Avalanche at KeyBank Center.

Adams provided an update on Levi’s injury but shared that he will not be ready for Sunday.

“Devon had a good day yesterday, a good day today. But he hasn’t been able to practice and he’s not ready to play. So, don’t want to put him in a situation where you’re backing up,” Adams said.

Levi has been out since Oct. 19 after starting in Buffalo’s first four games of the season. Adams said the hope is that Levi will join the team at practice Tuesday and then be ready to go by Wednesday.

Here are more notes from Saturday’s practice.

1. The NHL Department of Player Safety announced Saturday that defenseman Connor Clifton was suspended two games for his hit on New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier in the Sabres’ loss to the Devils on Friday at Prudential Center.

“I mistimed a hit. It’s simple as that,” Clifton said after his suspension was announced. “Obviously, there was head contact, which I didn’t intend to do. It’s a fast game and, you know, I watched it a hundred times. Obviously, I wish I took a different approach.

“Regardless of what he did, I guess as a hitter, it’s your responsibility to throw the safe hit. Unfortunately, I didn’t do that. Like I said, I’m glad he wasn’t injured on the play, and he came back. So, I just got to be a little better moving forward and time it a little better, and not put myself in that situation to go through the player safety call.”

2. Jacob Bryson is expected to take Clifton’s place in the lineup Sunday and practiced on a defense pair with Erik Johnson. Adams said they will then re-evaluate the situation after the game.

Bryson was a healthy scratch in the Sabres’ first eight games of the season and will have an opportunity to make his season debut against the Avalanche.

Following practice, coach Don Granato reflected on Bryson’s strong training camp after experiencing some challenges last season.

“You saw from Day 1 he presented as a more mature player with a greater perspective and an increased compete, which is significant,” Granato said. “We’ve seen him compete better and even in practice, going harder at guys in practice. And obviously, the intent is that translates better to the game, and I do believe there’s much more capacity for him. He did very well through camp and now he gets his opportunity.”

3. Forward Zach Benson joined Jordan Greenway and Tage Thompson on a line at practice, as Granato shuffled the lines a bit with a focus on having three lines as a scoring threat.

Granato spoke highly of Benson, who has tallied two assists in five games this season.

“It’s easy for Zach to go anywhere because he’s a very intelligent player. Hockey sense,” Granato said. “He’s fresh and that helps. He can shift anywhere, he really can because he’s got a very high hockey IQ and a very developed situational awareness, way beyond his age or experience level.”

4. Here’s how the rest of the group lined up at practice:

Forwards

12 Jordan Greenway – 72 Tage Thompson – 9 Zach Benson

53 Jeff Skinner – 37 Casey Mittelstadt – 77 JJ Peterka

71 Victor Olofsson – 24 Dylan Cozens – 89 Alex Tuch

28 Zemgus Girgensons – 19 Peyton Krebs – 21 Kyle Okposo

17 Tyson Jost

Defensemen

26 Rasmus Dahlin – 23 Mattias Samuelsson

25 Owen Power – 10 Henri Jokiharju

6 Erik Johnson – 78 Jacob Bryson

75 Connor Clifton

Goalies

1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

62 Devin Cooley

5. Cooley showed off his helmet in the locker room after practice, which includes the "slug" that the Sabres wore beginning in 2006-07 until the 2009-10 season.

The 26-year-old has posted a 3-0-1 record and a .903 save percentage to begin the season in Rochester. Cooley was excited to be back in Buffalo after getting to know the players and staff at training camp.

“…Being back here, it feels like I never left,” Cooley said. “So, that’s nice.”

6. Buffalo hosts Colorado on Sunday afternoon for Hockey Halloween at KeyBank Center, with the first 5,000 fans in attendance receiving commemorative player cards. For more information, click here. 

The Sabres will wear their black-and-red third jerseys, so be sure to secure your seats here.

Coverage on MSG begins at 12:30 p.m. The puck drops at 1 on MSG/MSG+ and WGR 550.