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Practice Notes:
-Mikhail Grigorenko only played 6:48 against Carolina on Friday night. Ruff regretted letting the rookie jump off the bench
“I got to a point where he hadn’t played for so long and I didn’t think that it was fair to throw him in a tough situation,” Ruff said. “I burnt up a game is what I did.”
Ruff said it is possible that Grigorenko will sit against Washington. However, the Sabres’ coach said he has liked the rookie’s game.
“I like where this kid is going,” he said. “I like where his game has been. Even his early shifts were good shifts. They had the making of doing something good.”
-Thomas Vanek sat out practice for a maintenance day. There's a good chance he'll be in the lineup against the Caps
-With Vanek sitting out, the lines were as follows:
Ott-Grigorenko-Stafford
Foligno-Hodgson-Pominville
Hecht-Ennis-Kaleta
Scott-Ellis-Gerbe
-Lindy Ruff talked after practice about some of the sloppy play in the last two games:
“We played pond hockey there,” Ruff said. “It wasn’t real good hockey. Let’s not kid ourselves, turnovers and turnovers my some of our key personnel even the short-handed goal was a careless turnover and we had a 3-on-0 against us and needed a couple big saves. We can’t play like that.”
-Marcus Foligno is off to a slow start after scoring 13 points in 14 games last season.
“I think he’s been caught half way,” Ruff said. “He wants to pull up and look for a better play. With the pace in the NHL game there isn’t room for that, and I saw a little bit of that in the American League. Just because something worked last year, doesn’t mean they people aren’t paying special attention to you.”
-Tyler Ennis only has one point in four games. He talked about not getting on the scoreboard right away:
“I’m happy with my work ethic,” he said. “I created some chances yesterday and I feel like I’m playing well, I just can’t score. I know that it’s going to come. Last year it came at different times, it’s just has to happen and it will start with hard work.”
Ennis also talked about his early struggles in the faceoff circle:
"I'm going to continue to work at it," he said. "Maybe another big guy on my line, we could be mutual at it and cheat on draws and have them take some. I have to improve at it."
The Sabres face the Capitals at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Coverage on WGR begins at Noon.