Veteran blueliner, Cozens did not practice on Friday
The Buffalo Sabres have five players listed as day-to-day going into the final game of their six-game homestand against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon.
Three players missed the 3-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday with upper-body injuries; defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, winger Jeff Skinner, and center Dylan Cozens, in the third period against the Hawks, veteran blueliner Erik Johnson left the game with an upper-body injury.
Johnson left the game after a heavy hit behind the Sabres net from Hawks forward Philipp Kurashev and did not return to the game.
At practice on Friday at the Harborcenter, Samuelsson and Skinner were full participants, but Johnson and Cozens were not on the ice.
"There's a couple of guys that were back on the ice today. One that wasn't, one that was, that we were gonna give a maintenance day to, but it's that time of the year with lots of different guys." Sabres head coach Don Granato said. "Decisions will be made (Saturday) morning on the lineup, because we have three or four guys that are right on the cusp."
Skinner has missed three games but indicated that it is not the same UBI that he suffered at the hands of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon last month. Granato said that the player he believes has the best chance of returning against Tampa Bay on Saturday is Samuelsson, who missed both shutout wins over Chicago and San Jose after leaving in the second period of the loss to Vancouver in concussion protocol.
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