Practice Report | Thompson remains day to day with upper-body injury

Sabres forward Tage Thompson did not practice on Tuesday and remains day to day while he recovers from an upper-body injury. Thompson scored a goal on Friday night against the Devils but collided with New Jersey's Timo Meier and briefly left the ice.
Thompson returned to play Saturday in a 2-0 win over the Islanders but missed Monday night's 4-3 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
The Sabres' next game is Friday against the New York Rangers.
"The hope (is) that this will resolve by Friday, the issue he's dealing with, or to the point where it's much less pain than he's been playing with," Granato told The Jeremy White Show before practice.
Casey Mittelstadt stepped into Thompson's place between Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch at practice again Tuesday.

Here are five things to know from practice:
1.Rookie goaltender Devon Levi worked in a net all to himself in his first full practice since signing his entry-level contact. Eric Comrie and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen shared the other net.
The Sabres have three days before they host the New York Rangers on Friday night, and the coaching staff used the layoff to get Levi a full workout in against his new team.
2.Craig Anderson was absent from practice and is officially listed as day to day. Sabres' coach Don Granato said he's been nursing an upper-body injury.
3.Rookie Lukas Rousek rotated in line rushes on the third line with Jordan Greenway, who has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury.
Rousek skated in Greenway's spot with Tyson Jost and Victor Olofsson against the Canadiens and became the first Sabres skater to make his NHL debut with Buffalo and record at least one goal and one assist in a game since Maxim Afinogenov did so on Nov. 10, 1999 vs. Boston.
Granato cited Rousek's compete level and his situational awareness as key factors in his goal in the first period.
"I think that's the reason why he can be effective and was effective even last night in his first NHL game," Granato said. "He went to the front of the net at the right time. He pushed off the guy at the right time and knew there was an opportunity coming before it came, because of situational awareness."

UPDATE (3:38 p.m.) -The Sabres have loaned Rousek to Rochester, the team announced.
4. Monday night was only the Sabres' fourth shootout of the season. Montreal's Michael Pezzetta scored in the sixth round on Eric Comrie to steal the extra point from the Sabres.
The six rounds marked the longest shootout for the Sabres this season.
Granato said the lack of experience in shootouts poses challenges in how the team determines its shootout lineup. He said the coaching staff puts together a list before the game of potential shooters and then there's communication on the bench to put a list in order for who they'd like to send out there.
"Shootouts are hot, cold. Even the best players have streaks of hot and cold," Granato said. "They're feeling it and then they're not feeling it. When you're not and you have such intermittence between them, there's no chance of a guy being hot."
5.Here's what the lines looked like at practice today.
| March 28, 2023 | | --- | | LW | C | RW | | 53 Jeff Skinner | 37 Casey Mittelstadt | 89 Alex Tuch | | 77 JJ Peterka | 24 Dylan Cozens | 22 Jack Quinn | | 13 Lukas Rousek /12 Jordan Greenway | 17 Tyson Jost | 71 Victor Olofsson | | 28 Zemgus Girgensons | 19 Peyton Krebs | 21 Kyle Okposo | | | | | | LD | RD | G | | 26 Rasmus Dahlin | 10 Henri Jokiharju | 31 Eric Comrie | | 25 Owen Power | 46 Ilya Lyubushkin | 1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen | | 61 RIley Stillman | 78 Jacob Bryson | 27 Devon Levi | | | | |