1. Mattias Samuelsson’s surgery to repair an upper-body injury went as planned, Granato confirmed. The defenseman was back in the building Monday and watched part of practice from the bench. He will miss the remainder of the season.
2. Here’s how the group lined up:
Forwards
53 Jeff Skinner – 72 Tage Thompson – 21 Kyle Okposo
9 Zach Benson – 24 Dylan Cozens – 77 JJ Peterka
12 Jordan Greenway – 37 Casey Mittelstadt – 89 Alex Tuch
28 Zemgus Girgensons – 19 Peyton Krebs – 50 Eric Robinson / 71 Victor Olofsson
Defensemen
26 Rasmus Dahlin – 10 Henri Jokiharju
25 Owen Power – 75 Connor Clifton
33 Ryan Johnson – 6 Erik Johnson / 78 Jacob Bryson
Goalies
1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
31 Eric Comrie
3. The Sabres held a competitive, battle-heavy practice coming off their 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. They earned a 34-26 shot advantage in that game but identified working toward the opposing net for deflections and rebound opportunities as an area of focus to convert those shots into goals.
The final drill of practice – a mini game played within one end of the ice – was geared toward that end.
“We had guys toward the net, to the net on many occasions,” Granato said. “We could have scored more. But we want more. We want more. We want more tips, we want more sticks on pucks, we want to improve the delivery, the timing of the delivery, even the height where you can tip it if a guy’s in a shot lane. So, lots of different nuances and situations.”
4. The Sabres and Kings will meet for a rematch on Tuesday after the Sabres pulled off a come-from-behind, 5-3 win in Los Angeles on Jan. 25. JJ Peterka led the way in that game with two goals and an assist for the first three-point outing of his career.
Pregame coverage on MSG/MSG+ begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.
