'All Carolina': Sabres focus on immediacy as they start four-game road trip

Yet when the Sabres begin the second half of a home-and-home series Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:30 p.m. at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C., they’ll kick off a four-game road trip that Sabres coach Don Granato regards as an opportunity for his team to build on its recent success.

“I like playing teams that are good teams,” said Granato, whose team is is 6-1-3 in its last 10 games, and 10-4-3 since March 1. “You get a lot more excited about it, so I’m excited. I’m excited for the challenge. We played well enough, obviously, to win (4-2) last night against Carolina, now we go to Carolina and they’re going to elevate their game, in their building, with their crowd and with their emotion and their energy. They’re not playing anybody else, in between, and they’re dialed in and focused on us.

“And I like that. That’s exciting for us, as a challenge, and we need to be challenged.”

The game against the Hurricanes kicks off one of the Sabres’ last – and arguably one of their more daunting – road trips, a four-game stretch that continues Friday at Florida and Sunday at Tampa Bay, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, then concludes Tuesday at Toronto. The Panthers have won eight of their last 10 games, including a five-game winning streak, and the Maple Leafs seven of their last 10. Both teams are ahead of third-place Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division.

Granato, though, talked only about Carolina after practice Wednesday morning at KeyBank Center. The Hurricanes are atop the Metropolitan Division with 98 points and 45 wins this season, two points ahead of the New York Rangers and six ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“It’s a four-game road trip with four teams – Carolina and three divisional teams,” Granato said. “Florida and Tampa are tough places to play, and you go to Toronto, which is another tough place to play. But it is all Carolina right now. All Carolina.”

The Sabres need to continue the consistency they’ve built in the last month, a stretch that got another boost with a 4-2 win Tuesday against the Hurricanes.

“I figure, we played pretty well for the past month and we’ve played some pretty good hockey teams in that stretch, as well,” right winger Kyle Okposo said. “We’ve got four games here on the road that are going to be tough, and they’re all good teams, but I just think we’re going to continue to focus on our growth and our development and us trying to win hockey games.

“Going into their building after just beating them at home, they’re going to be prepared, they’re going to be ready, and that’s step one. It’s going to be very challenging but I’m looking forward to it.”

While Granato is taking the game-by-game approach to the upcoming road trip, Okposo is thinking about the long-term goal towards which the Sabres are building, even as a loss would eliminate the Sabres from playoff contention. The veteran offered some candor on the collective mindset that should buoy the Sabres, not just into the next four games but for the final 11 games of the season.

“It just feels like we’re planting the roots a little bit, for this year,” Okposo said. “We have an attitude in there … I haven’t talked about this with the guys, but I don’t want the year to end. It’s been so much fun, and I have a feeling that a lot of the guys in that room feel the same way. We just want this to continue and to keep going, and we’ve felt that way for a while. There’s no, ‘let’s just make it to the end and ride this thing out and get a couple wins.’ It’s go time, every day.

“That’s a fun feeling to have and the way that we’re building the relationships and the culture is going to be what carries over.”

AHL suspends Holmstrom for homophobic language

The American Hockey League announced Wednesday that it has suspended Amerks forward Ben Holmstrom for eight games for using "homophobic language" during a game Thursday against Utica. Holmstrom is with the Amerks on a professional tryout.

The AHL said in a statement that Holmstrom has already served two games of the suspension, and that he will have to undergo diversity and inclusion education.

“To be clear, we have no tolerance for any form of hate and regret any harm his comment inflicted,” Amerks general manager Jason Karmanos said in a statement. “We strive to maintain an inclusive environment in which our differences are celebrated.”

Miller skates 

Defenseman Colin Miller skated Wednesday morning, his second practice with the Sabres since exiting Covid-19 protocol, and was Buffalo’s fourth defensive pairing, with Mark Pysyk. Granato said Miller is “another day closer” to returning to the lineup.