Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff put through his regular season roster through their paces at practice on Monday morning. The news was positive regarding defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, who was participating fully aside from wearing a yellow non-contact jersey, and forward Zach Benson, who returned to the ice after missing a week with a minor injury.
“(Mattias) feels good, (he) should be definitely a possibility for Thursday. Ruff said. “(Benson) looked good, too. Full practice. (we’ll) see how he gets feels tomorrow, but he felt no issues.”
The surprise was the absence of blueliner Owen Power, who suffered an undisclosed injury last week, but had been showing signs of improvement. Later in the day, the former #1 overall pick was placed on injured reserve, but the IR stint was retroactive and Power could be activated for the season opener against the New York Rangers.
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Ruff ruled out goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, defenseman Michael Kesselring, and winger Jordan Greenway, and they were placed on IR on Monday, The Sabres head coach indicated after practice that both Luukonen and Kesselring will be out “for a while”.
The club went through line rushes, special teams, and extra attacker drills on Monday, with the returning Benson skating on the top line with center Josh Norris and winger Tage Thompson. The second line consists of Jiri Kulich centering veterans Jason Zucker and Alex Tuch. Ryan McLeod is centering the third line with Jack Quinn and Josh Doan, while the fourth line consists of Justin Danforth, Peyton Krebs, and Beck Malenstyn.
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