Sabres team captain skated at Harborcenter on Monday.
The Buffalo Sabres practiced at LECOM Harborcenter on Monday and had team captain Rasmus Dahlin back on the ice, fresh off his second Olympics for Team Sweden. Dahlin skated with partner Rasmus Dahlin, and quarterbacked the first power play unit, which was without Tage Thompson, who was still in transit from Italy with Team USA, who were diverted from New York City to Miami because of the snowstorm that is hitting the East Coast.
Thompson is traveling with Team USA to Washington DC on Tuesday to attend the State of the Union and a White House ceremony on Wednesday, making his playing against the New Jersey Devils in Newark on Wednesday night questionable.
"I don't know if any of the US guys are gonna play," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff joked about the celebrating American squad. “We don't have anything mapped out right now. I think it just depends on how things go. He's had an unbelievable experience, and it's going to be a tough two or three days for all those guys. Really busy and to be expected."
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Dahlin reflecting the Olympic experience with his Swedish countrymen:
It was fun. It was awesome. Almost every game was a must win for us. So I got a chance to work on handling emotions and handling pressure. I got better at that. Playing against the best was awesome too. So I had a great personal experience, but obviously I wanted different results team-wise, but I think I did a pretty good job.
On playing against Thompson:
There was one situation where he decided not to hit me in the corner one time. So that was nice. I think he had a bomb when I was on the ice, too. He's a stud. It's fun to play with him, that's for sure, and he did a good job.
On the rest of the season with the Sabres:
Losing (to the US in the quarter-final) kind of switched my focus right away to Buffalo. I'm so excited to get this thing going. We have a really good thing going on, and now we know the fun begins. Now all the most important games start. So I can't be more excited for this.
On being slew-footed by Brady Tkachuk in the game against the US:
We competed for the puck, and nothing happened. We scored a goal, so it didn't really matter. I kind of wanted (to be on the) power play, but we scored anyway. So I was happy.
On whether that led to him not being available in overtime:
I was good to go. Nothing happened......It's not my decision. I wanted to be out there, that's for sure. So it is what it is. I can't do anything about it.
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