'This is the fun part': Sabres embracing road ahead

Pushing for the playoffs became a habit for Marco Scandella during his tenure with the Minnesota Wild, where the defenseman was a member of five straight postseason teams from 2012-13 through 2016-17.
While members of the Sabres packed their bags for Columbus following practice on Monday, Scandella smiled ear-to-ear when asked to describe the task ahead.
"This is why you play hockey," he said. "This is the fun part. Last year, coming off the break, we knew we were in a position that was almost impossible to make the playoffs. It wasn't that fun coming back. Other teams are pushing too and when you don't have much to play for, it isn't easy.
"… It's exciting to be in this position as opposed to last year. I think everyone's all smiles in this room right now, ready to work hard for each other."

While veterans like Scandella, Kyle Okposo and Conor Sheary are no strangers to the trials of a playoff push, younger members of the Sabres' core have been learning on the fly. As the games get tighter, individual plays become magnified for their importance.
The Sabres saw that firsthand in pre-break losses to Carolina, Tampa Bay and Vancouver, games in which crucial mistakes spoiled otherwise solid efforts.
"Everything's going to tighten up from now until the end of the year," Scandella said. "I feel like we understand that in this room. We have a lot of guys that are young and don't have that experience but are ready to battle. We have 34 games left. You're going to have to scratch and claw for every inch.
"We're in a position where we're going to have to make a real push here to have a chance to make the playoffs. It's going to take everybody in this room. We have to start playing playoff hockey from now on and treat every play like it could be your last, because every play makes a difference. Every play counts."
With 54 points, the Sabres sit four back from Pittsburgh for the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. They were sidelined for their bye week while Montreal picked up a pair of wins to move to third in the Atlantic Division with 61 points, though the Sabres have three games in hand.
With the Canadiens now on their bye week, the Sabres have a chance to make up ground.
"Those games in hand are just what they are, games in hand," coach Phil Housley said. "You still have to get results. I think it's a good thing for us, a challenge for us. This is where we wanted to be. Obviously, we want to be in a playoff spot, but we put ourselves in a good position.
"What we do moving forward here [is important], particularly a lot of guys who haven't experienced this situation, because it is hard. It's going to be difficult. But I'm excited to see how our guys are going to react to that challenge.

The schedule continues with back-to-back road games in Columbus and Dallas, followed by a seven-game homestand that begins against Chicago on Friday. Their next opponent, the Blue Jackets, sit just five points ahead in the standings.
Sabres captain Jack Eichel stressed the importance of taking a game-by-game approach while recapturing the attention to detail that helped define their early-season success.
"I just think desperation in our own end and keeping the puck out of our own end," he said. "I think it's important. I think at the beginning of the year, especially when we were winning, there where shifts maybe where we didn't get too much offensively, but we weren't giving up as much.
I think it's important for us to get back to that, where we're hard to play against in our own zone and hard to play against when we have the puck. I think the better we do that, the more success we have as a group."
It will be a tall task, no doubt, but it's one Scandella said the team is embracing.
"We have a lot to play for here, a lot of pride in this room for the city of Buffalo," he said. "I'm just excited to get going."

Adding to his collection

Eichel and Jeff Skinner were back on the ice Monday after both were excused from Sunday's practice due to their involvement at All-Star Weekend. It turns out the Sabres captain came back with a sought-after piece of memorabilia to add to his collection.
"I got some cool things," he said. "I got my game jersey that I wore during the game, I got that signed by all the guys on the East. I got a stick signed by everyone in the All-Star Game again and I grabbed one of Crosby's sticks, so that was pretty cool.
"I've been waiting on one of those for a little bit, so it was really cool to get one of his. I have an Alex Ovechkin stick too, so it's cool I've got both those guys."

Monday's practice

The lineup remained the same from Sunday, albeit with Eichel and Skinner reclaiming their spots on the top line alongside Sam Reinhart. With eight healthy defensemen on the ice - and a ninth who's nearing a return in Casey Nelson - Housley said decisions regarding who will play in Columbus will be made Tuesday.
"We've got eight very good defensemen that can play," Housley said. "So that's tough decisions. It falls on me to make the right one."
Here's how the team lined up in full:
53 Jeff Skinner - 9 Jack Eichel - 23 Sam Reinhart
43 Conor Sheary - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 71 Evan Rodrigues
72 Tage Thompson - 17 Vladimir Sobotka - 29 Jason Pominville
28 Zemgus Girgensons - 22 Johan Larsson - 21 Kyle Okposo
81 Remi Elie
19 Jake McCabe - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
26 Rasmus Dahlin - 4 Zach Bogosian
6 Marco Scandella - 48 Matt Hunwick
82 Nathan Beaulieu - 24 Lawrence Pilut
8 Casey Nelson
40 Carter Hutton
35 Linus Ullmark