The All-Star break couldn’t have come at a better time for the Buffalo Sabres, who have seen a few minor injuries in recent days.
The NHL All-Star break will precede the season’s third act, and the Buffalo Sabres are proud to take a lead role in the flick. Something they haven’t done much of over the past decade.
The hardluck franchise is also seeing their own taste of good luck for a change, since for the Blue and Gold, the All-Star break has come at exactly the right time. At a time when exhaustion and injuries forced the Sabres to improvise in January.
Take practice, something Buffalo saw for the first time in over two weeks. With such a grueling gauntlet that was January 2023, the Sabres played more like they did in November 2022 than October or December during the first half of the month.
That forced head coach Don Granato to make the change to morning skates as opposed to full-blown practices. And it worked like a charm, as Buffalo embarked on a seven-game points streak with a five-game winning streak sandwiched between two overtime losses.
Buffalo Sabres lucky the All-Star break is approaching
The Sabres have been banged up at various times of the year, but now they have three key players nursing minor injuries in Dylan Cozens, Mattias Samuelsson, and Tage Thompson. Yeah, three names you don’t want to be banged up with the playoff race becoming an important thing this season.
With one more game before the break, we may see Cozens, Samuelsson, and Tage take the ice against the Carolina Hurricanes, with the former two looking as though they’re ready to go. But nonetheless, a 10-day absence will do all three of them well.
Let’s backtrack on that for a second – Tage may still be able to play in the All-Star Game and skills challenges. But he will still have a good week following the game if he opts to play. Any way you look at it, the Sabres are going to benefit from the big break in more ways than one.
Article Source: They’re talking about practice: The Sabres finally had one after more than two weeks by Mike Harrington
Want your voice heard? Join the Sabre Noise team!