Granato expects Tuch and Greenway to return during Western road trip
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin took to the ice for the first time since Tuesday night’s 4-3 loss to Detroit at the club’s morning skate on Saturday before their match against the Montreal Canadiens and head coach Don Granato confirmed that Dahlin would play.
The 23-year-old blueliner, who leads the club in defensive scoring with 21 points (6 goals, 15 assists) missed his first game of the season with a nagging lower-body injury but indicated that he is feeling better and ready to go.
"I'm doing really really really really good today," Dahlin said. "I played with (the injury) for a while. Just got worse every day pretty much, so I had to stay away from the ice for a couple of days to let it heal, but now I'm ready to roll."
Dahlin skated with new defense partner Henri Jokiharju on Saturday, as the makeshift pairing of Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson played extremely well in the 3-1 win over Boston on Thursday.
“We have been talking about that quite a bit. We liked the way it looked the other night, so we're inclined to do that, but knowing that obviously (Samuelsson and Dahlin) will find their way together as well," Granato said, "We did like what we saw the other night with Samuelsson and Owen together."
Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen skated for the first time in nearly a week on Saturday, close to being fully recovered from an unspecified illness. Granato indicated that the goalie will be available for the club’s Western road trip beginning next Wednesday in Colorado.
The Sabres head coach also provided an update on injured forwards Alex Tuch, Jordan Greenway, and Zemgus Girgensons. Tuch and Greenway are improving and should be available by the end of the road swing next weekend, while Girgensons has been slower to recover and is not close to returning.
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