“They’ve Missed Him” | Jeff Skinner To Rejoin Buffalo Sabres Lineup With Alex Tuch And Tage Thompson
Eric Johnson’s here he’s going to be out tonight just how healthy is he at this point could he play on his trip he’s he’s dealing with soreness he’s dayto day uh I don’t expect him tonight or tomorrow but possibly on uh uh Saturday but we’ll know more because we put put
Him to the test uh quite a bit here this morning what was your thought process on with the backtack on the goal tending uh the thought process well in terms of like let Lucan has played really well some people might say you run Levi out there on a with a morning skate you’re
On back to back tomorrow just what went into all yeah you know I think you if he plays well tonight who knows maybe he plays tomorrow too it’s it’s you know that you you still have that as an opportunity for a decision uh in any event but he’s been he’s been the top
Guy recently and um he’s had enough rest and he’s ready to go so uh we would have all the same questions uh if we didn’t play him tonight thinking should we play the other way so so we you go through that as a process I think everybody
Knows that and you kick it all around but uh when we kicked all those around we thought uh you know tonight he’s ready to go and he’s in a rhythm and uh hopefully this keeps him in that Rhythm defensively I mean you you guys have
Been one of the top teams in the league in the month of January and now you’re trying to find a way to get more offense out of things I mean how do you get more I don’t know what word is it more emotion into your offensive game more
Just more Jam to it Pace we need more pace and you’ve heard me say that a couple times through the course of the year uh when we’re when we’re playing the way we want to play there’s a there’s a lot of pace to our game we’re
Moving pucks up uh you know North a distance you know maybe uh in L of a lateral it’s a it’s a direct North it’s a it’s an extend uh you know it’s to a guy extended up ice um to spread the ice out north uh and you know we’re a better
Team when we do that we’re we’re in we’re in a better Rhythm we put teams on their heels when we do that more it opens up more ice we get to the net better so uh you know it all has to do with Pace uh there’s there’s plenty of
Little intricacies it’s not just simple as I say that that word there’s lots of nuances that have to be hit right from support to posturing Puck to to positioning that uh you you need in line and aligned to do that so uh but when we’re on our game that’s what’s
Happening when we’re not on our game uh that’s not happening and uh as you’ve mentioned we’ve been much better defensively uh in recent days and and you know we know and we’ve got to turn a little bit of concentration and playing with a little bit more Pace you know
These guys play in front of their parents all the time from time to time but you got two guys tonight playing in front of their fathers who are coaches on the other bench just how unique the whole scene is that for those yeah that is incredibly unique um and incredible
Outright uh you know to have have that happen uh both both coaches over there I know and have known for a long time and um obviously the kid the players as well I’ve seen them as kids and now they’re men and and uh so uh it’s nice to be a
Part of it um and it is a very unique situation they certainly have innate knowledge of their guys they can pass on right especially in T’s case where he’s one of the guys circled on their board they they do and I and I you wonder what their uh what their strategy might be
Against it but uh um you know I know those two players will be very excited to play tonight uh very pumped up how’ you characterize what you’re getting when you have Jeff Skinner back in the lineup he is uh we all know Jeff Skinner and the emotion he brings and and that’s
A positive you know um that energy that passion for the game uh that compete he you know he’s such an integral part of Thompson and Tuck the three as a line uh and and those guys have been you know there’s no question they’ve missed him they’ve missed what he brings um so
It’ll be very nice to have uh Jeff back in the lineup in all seriousness was it almost too quiet without him I mean he brings that element of constant chatter to your team it’s easy to say and I agree completely with you that it was too quiet you know there we needed you
Know you could easily say you know had we had more emotion in the game uh would that have been the more energy the difference to to better offense like I said we were we were good enough defensively and whatever it was only a few goals in in the last four home games
And you finished 500 but we just didn’t score enough and and you know Jeff is not happy without scoring and and uh he drags a lot of guys into the fight through his emotional uh intensity um and uh that’s the compete that uh obviously you know upon
Reflection we we would have loved to have that in the lineup
Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato spoke with the media after morning skate on January 23, 2024, ahead of the Sabres’ game against the Anaheim Ducks. He confirmed that Jeff Skinner would join the lineup after being out with an injury.
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