BUFFALO – As the goose egg attached to his stat line illustrates, Peyton Krebs doesn’t score much. The Sabres center has played 322 NHL games because he evolved and embraced a new identity as a tenacious checker and sandpaper presence.
Krebs, 24, had registered zero goals and seven assists in 25 games this season entering Monday’s contest against the Winnipeg Jets in KeyBank Center. Among regular Sabres forwards, only Krebs and winger Zach Benson, who has missed 12 games battling injuries, hadn’t scored a goal.
Still, the physicality the 6-foot, 188-pound Krebs possesses has helped him impact games in other ways.
Maybe it’s laying a hit to signal his presence – he had recorded 58, the Sabres’ second-highest total, entering Monday’s contest – or getting under the opponent’s skin in other ways.
“Just being hard to play against,” Krebs told the Times Herald prior to Monday’s game. “I think when guys go into a battle with me, they know they’re going to have to work for it. Those add up over time.”
In Saturday’s 3-2 shootout win in Minnesota, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff utilized the fourth line of Krebs, Josh Dunne and Beck Malenstyn to answer the Wild’s heavy attack.
“That was kind of our counter to that, was that line, and they did a nice job for us,” Ruff said.
Malenstyn scored in the first period, zooming to the net and tying the game at 1 when Krebs’ shot from the left circle hit him and bounced in.
“Scored the goal, but I thought a lot of shifts, controlled play when they were out there,”Ruff said.
The trio combined to pump seven shots on goal and allowed just one.
The shot that created Malenstyn’s goal was significant. Krebs scored 10 goals and 28 points last season, both career highs, and seemed to benefit more than anyone else from Ruff’s arrival.
Ruff recently said he has told Krebs he defers too much for a better play and must get more pucks and himself to the net.
“I like to be a playmaker, as you can see,” Krebs said. “But I think just adding that part to my game can allow me to get more offense and just get more things going.”
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The night before his first game in 53 days, Sabres center Josh Norris acknowledged he couldn’t sleep well – “I was a little anxious,” he said – and woke up early.
The oft-injured Norris, 26, hadn’t played since Oct. 9, opening night, when he suffered an upper-body injury in just his fourth appearance with the Sabres.
After missing 24 games, he returned against the Jets, pivoting Benson and Tage Thompson.
“Just excited to get back in the lineup,” Norris said prior to the game. “Really just made sure that I was good before I made the decision to come back.”
Having battled injuries in recent seasons, Norris took his time coming back from his latest ailment.
“I’ve obviously been through some stuff before, so just think I probably took a little bit of extra time this time, just to be 100-percent sure,” said Norris, who was acquired in a trade last season with the Ottawa Senators. “Especially with the type of injury I had, you’ve just got to be careful.”
Still, he wanted to be thrown right into the fray.
“There’s no easing into coming back 25 games in,” he said. “… It’s full go and I feel good. Just excited to get back.”
To create a roster spot for Norris, the Sabres sent rookie Zach Metsa back to the Rochester Americans. The move leaves them with just six defensemen on the 23-man roster.
Notes: With Norris back and winger Jordan Greenway back in the lineup after sitting out Saturday for load management, the Sabres scratched Dunne, center Tyson Kozak (both healthy). Goalie Colten Ellis (healthy) also sat out. … Ruff said defenseman Michael Kesselring, out the last eight games with a lower-body injury, skated on his own Monday for the second time. … With Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, the reigning winner of the Hart and Vezina trophies, out four to six weeks after undergoing knee surgery in late November, former Sabres netminder Eric Comrie has temporarily become their No. 1 goalie.