BUFFALO – For six games, winger Zach Benson gutted out a lower-body injury that hindered his performance before the Sabres yanked him from the lineup.
“It’s hard to tell a player not to play,” Sabres Lindy Ruff said this morning after Benson participated in the Sabres’ optional pregame skate in KeyBank Center. “… There’s a lot of guys that aren’t 100 percent. There’s something that might be bothering a lot of different players right now. If it starts affecting your play, that’s kind of when you got to step in and say, ‘We’re going to have to take you out.’
“A lot of times a player doesn’t want to come out. That’s a good thing.”
Ruff said Benson, 19, will likely play next week. He will miss his fourth straight game tonight against the New York Islanders. The Sabres play a road game Saturday versus the Detroit Red Wings and have a day off Sunday, so he won’t have a full practice until Monday. The Sabres have a home game Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators.
“The last couple of days have been way better,” Benson said. “It’s feeling really good now.”
Naturally, Benson said the injury, which hindered his aggressive style, weighed on him a bit mentally. In six games, he has recorded zero points.
“It definitely was frustrating, but that’s the past now,” he said.
When he returns, Benson said he wants to “be a little pest.”
“Get on pucks, be in front of the net, create havoc and make plays,” said Benson, who scored 11 goals and 30 points as a rookie last season. “That’s the biggest thing, just kind of get back to my game and playing with lots of energy.”
In other news, Ruff said goalie Devon Levi will be starting tonight, his fourth nod this season. Levi hasn’t played since making 19 saves Oct. 17 in a 6-4 road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Ruff said Levi shook off that performance long ago.
“He put that away real quick, and I don’t know if you can totally lump that whole game on him,” he said. “So practices have been great. We know he’s a good goaltender. We know we’re going to need him. We know our schedule starts getting heavy.
“So the plan is to still keep trying to use both. But at the same time, if somebody really gets on a tear, they’ll play.”
Ruff said goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will likely play Saturday.