Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Mark Pysyk will be back in the lineup on Tuesday for the Buffalo Sabres and will play his 500th NHL game against the New York Islanders.
Pysyk was drafted by the Sabres 23rd overall in the 2010 NHL Draft and has played 171 games with Buffalo. He also played 292 games with the Florida Panthers, and another 36 with the Dallas Stars.
Pysyk signed with Buffalo this season, because the Sabres were going to use him on defense. The past two seasons with Dallas and Florida, he was mostly a forward. Pysyk, of course, is proud to play in 500 games at the NHL level.
“I’m excited about it," Pysyk said following Tuesday's morning skate. "There have been some highs and some lows on the way here, but to get here is pretty cool.”
During the 2013 lockout-shortened season, Pysyk played 19 games with the Sabres starting March 17. He doesn’t remember a lot about his first NHL game.
“It was in Washington. I don’t remember much, it was all a blur," Pysyk recalled. "A lot of nerves, but that was nine years ago, and time goes really fast.”
Sabres head coach Don Granato seems to be using a rotation of Jacob Bryson, Pysyk and Robert Hagg to be the healthy scratch, leaving the young players in the lineup. Pysyk said he knows where Granato is coming from.
"On defense, we’ve got a lot of great young players, and they’ve got to be playing. So I definitely understand what’s going on," Pysyk said.
Casey Mittelstadt has been practicing hard and improving daily. He won’t play Tuesday, and Granato doesn’t know about his status for Thursday against the Ottawa Senators.
In Sunday’s 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens, the line of Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch had nine points. Granato is looking for another combination that can help them out.
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Dylan Cozens centered Peyton Krebs and Victor Olofsson on Sunday. That looks like an intriguing group on paper, but they turned the puck over all day and had very little chemistry in Montreal.
With that being said, I think they need to get more chances together.
“I’m going to go do a video session with the three of them. We’ll watch a few clips from the last game and give them a few ideas for today," Granato said of the trio. "I am excited about the potential of Cozens and Krebs and Olofsson. I think they left a lot on the table last game, and we’ll give them some pointers for tonight and they’ll produce more scoring chances, and hopefully goals.”
Granato is hoping with their skill, they can evolve together. Olofsson hasn't scored since Halloween, which covers 30 games.
Dustin Tokarski gets the start in goal on Tuesday after a rough outing this past Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Tokarski is 4-6-4 this season with a 3.32 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage.
Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov is in NHL COVID-19 protocols and is stuck in Calgary. Cory Schneider has been called up from the American Hockey League.
This is the final game of a four-game road trip for New York. The Islanders have lost three out of those four games.
Mathew Barzal is the Islanders' leading scorer with 30 points in 39 games.
Kyle Palmieri has been an awful acquisition, and then signing for the Islanders, as he only has one goal in 29 games.
Join Schopp and the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. EST when they’ll be joined by Granato, Pysyk and Kyle Okposo.
