Camp Notebook | Sabres brace for stretch of 4 games in 5 nights

Don Granato opted for one large practice group on Monday as the Sabres prepared for a busy week of preseason play, with four games scheduled over the next five days. 

Those who played in Sunday’s shootout victory over Washington were given the day off, leaving upwards of 30 players on the ice for a competitive practice inside KeyBank Center.

“I thought the workload was where we wanted it today which was great,” Granato said. 

The Sabres play their first home preseason game on Tuesday against the Boston Bruins, followed by a visit to West Lorne, Ontario for their Kraft Hockeyville game against Toronto on Wednesday and a trip to Pittsburgh on Thursday. The stretch concludes at home against Columbus on Saturday.

Buffalo has 62 players remaining on its camp roster after forward Ethan Miedema and goaltender Scott Ratzlaff were returned to their respective junior teams on Saturday. Granato said players will rotate in and out of the lineup over the upcoming week, with only a few names from Sunday’s game expected to play against the Bruins on Tuesday. 

“There’s a couple guys that will play both,” he said. “But it’s going to alternate now because it’s three games in three nights.”

Here are more notes from Monday’s practice.

1. Here’s how the practice group lined up:

2. Viktor Neuchev participated in his first practice of training camp after sustaining a minor injury during the Prospects Challenge. The 19-year-old forward is preparing for his first North American season after spending last year with Yekaterinburg of the KHL.

3. Sabres captain Kyle Okposo was back on the ice with the team after missing practice last Friday to speak at the Global Africa Business Initiative’s “Unstoppable Africa” conference in New York City, an event organized by the United Nations Global Compact.

“If anybody comes and tells you they’ve got to speak at the UN, you give them the day off,” Granato said. “… They picked the right guy. That’s a special guy, we’ve all come to know that. Pretty neat experience.”

Read more about Okposo’s experience here.

4. We heard last week from Rasmus Dahlin about how veteran newcomer Erik Johnson had already made an impact in an overwhelmingly young dressing room. Dahlin bought a sauna on Johnson’s recommendation, the product of an emphasis on recovery that Johnson himself learned from Hall-of-Fame forward Paul Kariya during their time together in St. Louis.

Granato referenced another Hall of Famer when describing Johnson’s work ethic on Monday.

“I can remember at one point coaching Chris Chelios, running him through practices, and to this point he’s been the hardest worker I’ve ever seen in practice,” Granato said. “He was 48 years old at the time. And Erik reminds me of that exactly. He is just a tone-setter in practice. He does not know how to do things at a warmup pace. It’s full-go, it’s fifth-gear immediately.”

5. The Sabres host the Bruins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Tickets for the game are available here.

NESN’s broadcast feed will be available to watch on MSG in the Buffalo broadcast market. Dan Dunleavy and Marty Biron will have the radio call on WGR 550. Find a schedule of how to watch all of Buffalo’s preseason games here.