BOSTON – Don Granato and Matt Ellis will be back behind the Sabres' bench here Saturday afternoon.
The Sabres interim head coach and interim assistant were cleared out of Covid protocol Friday and made their way here from Pittsburgh. Rochester Amerks coach Seth Appert directed practice in TD Garden.
Appert drove from Rochester to Pittsburgh and joined the team in the second period Thursday. Because he was here simply to run drills and is not coaching in Saturday's 1 p.m. matinee against the Boston Bruins, the team did not make Appert available to the media.
The team and NHL does not disclose the nature of someone's trip to Covid protocol, but the quick return of the Sabres' coaches is indicative of a false positive test that they produced or was produced by a close contact.
Appert ran the workout along with interim assistant Dan Girardi, video coach Myles Fee and skating development coach Mike Ansell.
People are also reading…
Granato and Ellis were both held out of Thursday's 4-0 loss in Pittsburgh and General Manager Kevyn Adams stepped behind the bench for the shutout defeat that extended the franchise-record winless streak to 16 games.
Tickets for four games go on sale Monday
The Sabres will put tickets on sale for four April home games on Monday morning – and fans will be able to show proof of vaccination to attend instead of being required to produce a negative test for Covid-19.
Tickets go on sale to the public at 2 p.m. Monday. Season ticket holders will have an exclusive window to purchase starting at 10 a.m. and will automatically receive a discount on the box office price.
The games are April 3 against the New York Rangers, April 9 against Washington, April 17 against Pittsburgh and April 23 against Boston. The contest against the Penguins starts at 3 p.m. and the others are at 7 p.m.
Fans who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination cards when entering the arena. To qualify as "fully vaccinated," fans will need to have received their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least 14 days prior to the game date.
Fans who don't meet those qualifications will need to test to enter. They must show proof of a negative antigen test taken within six hours of puck drop, or proof of negative molecular PCR test taken within 72 hours of the game.
The Sabres are again collaborating with Quest Diagnostics for testing. Quest offers antigen tests for $30 with test results within 30 minutes and PCR tests for $64.
Fans can schedule tests online. All payments and scheduling are done through Quest and not the Sabres.
The Sabres are not selling tickets for their first three home games next week against Philadelphia Monday and Wednesday and the Rangers Thursday. They initially planned to have fans in the building for the March 20 game against Boston but that contest was postponed when the Bruins had five players land on the Covid protocol list.
Okposo 'alarmed' by neck issue
Tage Thompson returned to practice after missing two games due to illness while Kyle Okposo was also on the ice after missing the first three games after having some issue following Sunday's practice. They skated on a fifth line of forwards with taxi squad player Brett Murray and won't play Saturday.
Okposo, of course, has a history of concussion symptoms and said this situation was neck-related.
"Got it worked on and was able to get better quickly," Okposo said. "So I stayed out in front of it, which is good.
"I was alarmed for sure. It's something that has been part of my life here over the past number of years and something that probably we'll continue to deal with. But I have a great, great team here in place and great people around me to work with. So I'm happy that we dealt with it quickly."
Bruins' Cassidy seeking more zip
The Bruins are coming off Thursday's 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders and coach Bruce Cassidy put them through a rare double practice session earlier Friday. They are just 4-3-3 in March and have slipped to fourth in the East Division, albeit with 3-5 games in hand on the teams above them.
A surly Boston coach looking to prod his players is probably not good news for the Sabres, who are 0-5-1 in their last six games against the Bruins. Boston won the first meeting of the season, 4-1, on March 18 in KeyBank Center.
"We have to have a little more of a mindset that what we do in practice can help translate to success in games," Cassidy said. "And I think we've done a good job of that around here. We're a team that generally practices well. It wasn't a lack of effort today. It was more of a lack of mindset of shooting and scoring goals."
Goalie Tuukka Rask, who left Thursday's game with an upper-body injury, won't play Saturday. He could be replaced by 23-year-old third-stringer Daniel Vladar, who made 34 saves to win his only NHL start March 16 at Pittsburgh.
