After two days of double sessions, the Buffalo Sabres are quickly transitioning to the next phase of training camp this weekend and the work comes fast and furious.
The team will hold a scrimmage Saturday morning in LECOM Harborcenter and then it's time for real games: The preseason opener Sunday afternoon at Washington and the home exhibition opener Tuesday night at 7 in KeyBank Center against Philadelphia.
"It's less about what I'm looking for other than the compete, the work," coach Don Granato said Friday. "And it's more about giving them a different form of practice to get ready for games. It's much less for me. I'll sit back and enjoy that as much as you can. The pressure's not on right now.
"I think if they push it and push it hard, which they did today, they're doing what they can on Day 2. And what they can do on Day 3 is push it again in a different format that should help them get ready for the next step."
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The Sabres haven't announced any official lineups for the exhibition opener against the Capitals. Their practice schedule, however, indicates the Gold team will form the core of the group traveling to Washington, because it's scheduled to be off on Monday while the Blue team skates. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen would likely be in line to get a look in goal and Gold veterans to choose from include Dylan Cozens, Casey Mittelstadt, Vinnie Hinostroza, Victor Olofsson, Rasmus Asplund, Rasmus Dahlin and Jacob Bryson.
The list of intriguing Gold prospects to choose from include Owen Power, JJ Peterka, Lukas Rousek and 2022 first-round picks Matt Savoie and Jiri Kulich.
All preseason games can be seen
The Sabres have announced that all six preseason games will be available for Western New York fans on radio, as well as either television or streaming. Sunday's game in Washington starts at 2 p.m. and will be on NHL Network using the Capitals' feed and announcers. Tuesday's game and the Oct. 1 game here vs. Pittsburgh will be streamed on Sabres.com, as will Wednesday's game at Columbus.
Dahlin’s poise off the ice has progressed at the same rapid pace as his play on the Sabres’ blue line.
The Oct. 4 home game vs. Carolina will be shown live on MSG at 7 p.m. with a pregame show at 6:30. The Oct. 7 preseason finale at Pittsburgh will also be on MSG, using the Penguins' feed and announcers.
Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will call all six games on radio and three of the six on TV. Sunday's game will be on WWKB Radio due to the Bills-Miami broadcast, with the rest on WGR.
Anderson's son creates art
Veteran goalie Craig Anderson has debuted a new set of goalie pads for this season, heavily marked by gold and blue. And he revealed Friday that the artist was his 11-year-old son, Jake.
"I turned it over. I didn't even do it," Anderson said, noting that reps from equipment manufacturing giant Bauer wanted to know if he wanted another set of largely white pads like he's worn in the past. "My 11-year-old goes, 'That looks terrible.'
"So I said, 'Well, here's the iPad, here's the website, go design the pads.' And so I gave him 25 minutes or so. He came up with a couple of designs he made on the Bauer site. We as a family sat down (to make a choice) because I'm not very artsy."
Jake Anderson also designed a set of black and red pads for when his father wears the team's new "Goathead" alternate jerseys starting in November.
"It actually turned out really well. It looked cool on the web site and the black and red one looks pretty good too," Anderson said. "I haven't seen those yet. But again, my 11-year-old has got way more art than I do. So if anybody doesn't like it, you guys can take it up with him."
More goalie content. Craig Anderson has a new Bauer setup for this season. @GoalieGearNerd pic.twitter.com/ITOLrIEpGR
— Lance Lysowski (@LLysowski) September 23, 2022
Mixing and matching
The Sabres have shown a hodgepodge of line combinations and defense pairs so far, mingling players all over the ice through drills. But it has been intriguing to see a clear emphasis on putting the young prospects in positions to mix with key veterans.
For instance, former No. 1 pick Jack Quinn went through one set of drills Friday skating with Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs, and another with Krebs and Zemgus Girgensons. Isak Rosen skated with Kyle Okposo and Anders Bjork while Tyson Kozak took turns with Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson. Mats Lindgren, the defense prospect the Sabres took in July in the fourth round, skated Friday with Henri Jokiharju.
"It's comfortable to be able to do that knowing that the older guys are going to send the messages, and the message is going to be consistent through the older guys from what we collectively want as a team and an organization," Granato said. "That makes it easier to empower guys to take initiative."
Granato has been relatively quiet the first two days. He said after Thursday's opening of camp he wanted his assistants to come up with new drills, and he is empowering the staff to run most of the early workouts. In charge on the ice have been the Sabres' assistants, notably defense coach Marty Wilford, as well as Rochester head coach Seth Appert and his aides like former Sabres Mike Weber and Michael Peca, and members of the team's development staff.
