BUFFALO – One last sweat and out the door.
The Sabres practiced – or, perhaps more appropriately, scrimmaged loosely – for almost an hour this morning inside HarborCenter before beginning their five-day Christmas break. They don’t play again until Saturday in Boston.
“You’re looking at six days of really not any activity at all,” Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. “I really kind of wanted to get here and get a sweat.”
The Sabres will enjoy a longer break than most teams. The schedule runs through Tuesday before everyone gets a three-day break.
Of course, a few extra days off are welcome. The Sabres just finished a stretch of eight games in 14 days and five in eight days.
“We’ve had a lot of hockey in the last month,” Bylsma said. “They’ve come at us in back-to-backs, out West, coming back home. This is a much-needed break for our group.”
The break, however, worries Bylsma a little bit.
“It’s an extremely long period of time,” he said. “Yeah, so it is a little bit uncomfortable.”