As Winter Classic approaches, Lehner has fun with equipment at practice

As the new year continues to draw closer, more and more signs of the Buffalo Sabres' involvement in the upcoming Winter Classic continue to pop up in their dressing room at KeyBank Center. First royal blue gloves appeared in the stalls, followed by pants of the same color.
After Chad Johnson debuted a Winter Classic inspired goalie mask earlier in the week, Robin Lehner joined in on the fun on Thursday. The goalie took warm-up shots prior to practice sporting an old-fashioned mask reminiscent of the 1970s, topped with a toque.
Sadly, it was a short-lived experiment. After testing what it felt like to take a shot off the face, Lehner switched into a more traditional mask he had customized for the upcoming event. At the very least, he plans to wear the old-school mask for warm ups.

"I have a lot of respect for them," Lehner said. "I took one off the dome, felt pretty good. We'll see if we can beef it up."

The other mask Lehner wore Thursday, which you can view in the Tweet below, includes the image of Sabres legend Dominik Hasek painted along the sides.

While the Sabres have four games remaining between now and the Winter Classic, coach Phil Housley said the team as a whole is looking forward to participating in the event.
"You just go back to your childhood and that's what it's all about, being outdoors," Housley said. "Playing on a pond, playing on a rink that had just been frozen the night before. When you look at it from that perspective and just playing outdoors in general, it's exciting for our group."
The Sabres have two games left before the holiday break, a back-to-back set that begins at home against Philadelphia on Friday and concludes in Carolina on Saturday. After the break, they'll head to New York City for road games against the Islanders and New Jersey Devils prior to meeting the Rangers on New Year's Day.
Coverage of Friday's game begins at 6:30 p.m. with GMC Gamenight on MSG-B, or you can listen live on WGR 550. The puck drops at 7.

Nylander assigned to World Juniors

Jason Botterill has said in the past that he's a strong advocate for the Word Junior Championship, including in the case of Alexander Nylander. The Sabres officially assigned Nylander to Team Sweden for the tournament following Rochester's 3-1 win over Belleville on Wednesday night.
Nylander, selected by Buffalo with the No. 8 pick in 2016, has played in two World Junior Championships for Sweden. He was named to the tournament's All-Star team last year after scoring 12 points (5+7) in seven games.
"All our prospects that are going to be able to play in this tournament, it really gives them a chance to represent their country and get back with some teammates that he's played with before," Housley said. "We want to see him succeed. I think you can get a big boost of confidence if your country does well and that's what we're looking for from him."
Other Sabres prospects expected to compete in the tournament include forwards Casey Mittelstadt (USA) and Marcus Davidsson (Sweden), goalie Ukko Pekka-Luukkonen (Finland) and defenseman Vojtech Budik (Czech Republic).
The 2018 World Junior Championship kicks off in Buffalo on Dec. 26.

Lines at practice

28 Zemgus Girgensons - 15 Jack Eichel - 23 Sam Reinhart
9 Evander Kane - 90 Ryan O'Reilly - 21 Kyle Okposo
67 Benoit Pouliot - 10 Jacob Josefson - 29 Jason Pominville
17 Jordan Nolan - 22 Johan Larsson - 20 Scott Wilson
71 Evan Rodrigues
6 Marco Scandella - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
19 Jake McCabe - 47 Zach Bogosian
93 Victor Antipin - 41 Justin Falk
4 Josh Gorges - 82 Nathan Beaulieu