Meanwhile, injuries to Ryan O'Reilly and Dmitry Kulikov kept them off the ice at practice as well. Bylsma said that both players are day-to-day and both remain possible to play against the New Jersey Devils on Friday night. Kulikov skated 23:44 on Wednesday; O'Reilly was scratched due to his injury.
If O'Reilly does miss more time, we might continue to see an increased role for Derek Grant. Grant assumed primary faceoff duties in O'Reilly's absence on Wednesday and won 14 of his team-high 20 draws. He's won 59.5 percent of his faceoffs this season, which ranks 12th amongst NHL forwards with at least 80 attempts.
Grant's success in the faceoff circle even pushed Bylsma to use him to take draws in certain situations on the top line between Evander Kane and Kyle Okposo on Wednesday.
"When Derek Grant goes 14-6, he's gonna be the guy taking the majority of them," Bylsma said. "That put him on the ice more and more in bigger situations for us because of his ability last night to win draws. That's something we needed from him without Ryan in the lineup for us."
Grant also becomes even more instrumental on the penalty kill with O'Reilly out of the lineup. Grant already ranks 23rd amongst the League's forwards with 31:34 of shorthanded ice time and his 59.1-percent mark (13-for-22) on shorthanded faceoffs ranks fifth among players with at least 10 attempts.
"I think faceoffs and the penalty kill are probably the two things that I take the most pride in in my game," Grant said. "I think with [O'Reilly] out it's obviously a bigger role and I'm gonna be seeing the dots a little bit more. I just try to approach each one the same with the mentality that I'm gonna win it."
Grant said he's been feeling more comfortable offensively in the games since becoming linemates with Nick Baptiste, and he played alongside another familiar face with the recall of former Binghamton Senators teammate Cole Schneider on Wednesday. The trio connected on a goal by Baptiste quickly after Grant won a faceoff early in the first period.
It was Grant's first point as a Sabre, and it came against his former organization in Ottawa.
"It's always a little bit more fun playing those guys," he said. "You play with a little bit more of an edge I think. Ever since you grow up, it's more fun beaten your buddies too so I have a few buddies over there and it's fun beating those guys."
Regardless of whether O'Reilly plays or not on Friday, the Sabres would like to see more scoring from the bottom of their lineup. The Sabres rank 28th in the League with 26 goals through 13 games, 13 of which have come from either Kyle Okposo, Ryan O'Reilly or Matt Moulson.
The fourth line of Schneider, Grant and Baptiste was able to contribute Wednesday and may have earned itself more opportunities going forward. Regular fourth-line forward Nicolas Deslauriers is 12 days removed from sustaining a knee injury against Florida on Oct. 29, but Bylsma said it will still be another two weeks at least before he's able to take another step in his rehabilitation.
"I liked that line," Bylsma said. "I would like to use that line more. They had success as a line in training camp. They got us a goal last night, which we desperately needed, got it from scoring from up and down our lineup which we need to get and they gave it to us last night. Again, I'd like to see that line play a little bit more and be more effective."
