BUFFALO – In Tuesday’s 3-2 win, Alex Tuch and Jason Zucker, two of the Sabres’ top wingers, each played about three minutes under their season averages.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said prior to the game against the Ottawa Senators he believed the virus that has recently run through the team was no longer a problem.
Two hours before the contest, the Sabres recalled center Josh Dunne from the Rochester Americans. Dunne and defenseman Jacob Bryson both skated in the warm-up before being scratched.
Ruff said following the game they needed Dunne because a couple of players were questionable. It’s unclear if they were sick or nursing injuries.
On Wednesday, the Sabres canceled practice, presumably to give any ill or banged-up players a chance to rest before tonight’s game against superstar Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins at KeyBank Center.
In the midst of a dizzying month featuring 16 games over a 30-day stretch, including three in the next four days, injuries and illnesses have recently forced the Sabres to utilize their depth.
Right now, forwards Jordan Greenway (lower body), Sam Lafferty (groin) and Josh Norris (mid-body) are all sidelined.
Tyson Kozak, who spent about a month with the Sabres earlier this season, has possibly entrenched himself as their fourth-line center during the past two weeks.
Kozak, 22, recorded his first NHL assist Tuesday, deftly feeding defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker at the point from below the goal line.
With Ottawa goalie Anton Forsberg on the bench for an extra attacker late, his dogged play to clear the puck drew Ruff’s praise.
“If you look at five-on-six, the effort that Kozak had and the smarts not to go for the empty net, get it out and basically kill the clock,” he said.
This month, the Sabres have also summoned some of the AHL’s top players: Dunne, wing prospect Isak Rosen and winger Brett Murray.
In addition to Kozak, Dunne, 26, and Rosen, 22, are still in the NHL.
In the 6-foot-4, 211-pound Dunne, the Sabres possess an intriguing talent. Given his age and that he turned pro four years ago, he’s no longer a considered a prospect. Still, his all-around game could someday earn him more duty in the big leagues.
Amerks coach Mike Leone said last week Dunne is “arguably the best 200-foot center in the league.”
“He’s a playoff-type player,” he said. “He’s heavy and he’s hard, and at this time of year, that’s what the game is. He drags guys into the fight. … Dunner’s been great all season. Like, he’s a horse.”
Prior to this season, Dunne played 14 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets, registering zero points. On July 1, the Sabres signed him a two-year contract that turns into a one-way deal next season.
He has compiled nine goals and 26 points in 58 games with the Amerks.
In his lone appearance with the Sabres this season, a 4-0 loss March 8 in Florida, he fought the Panthers’ A.J. Greer.
“Playing in the NHL’s a privilege, like, especially where I am in my career now,” Dunne said Friday in Blue Cross Arena after scoring the only goal Rochester’s 2-1 loss to the Charlotte Checkers. “So I don’t take it for granted at all. I mean, it’s just an awesome experience, and you kind of see, just in the little time I was there, you see what makes those players so good. So you try to pick up things and you still try to learn.”
Rosen and Murray both recently represented the Amerks in the AHL All-Star Classic. The Sabres sent Murray, who has scored 20 goals in the AHL this season, back to Rochester on Monday following three pointless outings.
In his third season, Rosen, the 14th overall pick in 2021, has developed into Rochester’s top scoring threat, compiling 27 goals and 54 points in 55 games.
The Swede played Tuesday, skating a team-low 8 minutes, 26 seconds on right wing alongside Kozak and Beck Malenstyn.
Rosen has recently been yo-yoing from Buffalo to Rochester, moving up and down all month. He has produced zero points while averaging just 9 minutes and 53 seconds of ice time in four games with the Sabres this season.