Buffalo, NY (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres were missing some players at practice on Friday that aren’t seriously injured, but could miss Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Alex Tuch missed Thursday’s game, but was at practice. Ruff had said had the game against the Washington Capitals been a playoff game, Tuch probably could’ve played. Tuch said,

“I’m good, really good, today was better than yesterday and I felt if I played yesterday it would just continue to bother me and I’d rather just get ahead of it with the amount of games we have coming down the stretch and making a push towards the playoffs, I just don’t want this to linger.”

Mattias Samuelsson and Tanner Pearson also didn’t practice. Ruff said,

“‘Sammy’s’ got some maintenance, he’s a guy that may not be able to play and Pearson same thing, a little bit of a lower-body that in all likelihood for sure we’ll hold out.”

Colten Ellis also missed practice. Ruff said,

“Something flared up on him from practice, so he’s just getting checked out to make sure there’s nothing serious.”

The news was better about Conor Timmins who has been out since Dec. 20 with a broken leg. Ruff said,

“He’s pretty good, you could probably see him back with us practicing by tomorrow maybe, if not we’ll see how today went and if not I’d say within the week.”

Ruff now has options depending on who the Sabres are playing. He has Zach Metsa, Michael Kesselring, Logan Stanley, Luke Schenn, Pearson, Josh Dunne and Tyson Kozak. Ruff said he has a huge respect for how those guys have played and the character that they have,

“This is the group that got us there and I still have a lot of time for all the guys, from ‘Kozy’ to ‘Dunner’ to ‘Kess’ to ‘Metz,’ I’ve got a lot of time and I’ve got a lot of admiration for how much time they put in to help us be a better team.”

Since 2021-22, the NHL Edge Era has been going. On Thursday Beck Malenstyn was clocked with a 24.94 MPH speed burst. It’s the fastest burst ever in the NHL Edge Era. Ruff said,

We have a new fastest speed burst in the NHL EDGE era ‼️@BuffaloSabres forward Beck Malenstyn was clocked with a 24.94 mph max skating speed to best the previous mark set by Miles Wood (24.82 mph on April 10, 2025). #NHLStats: https://t.co/QnQrgI6dQh pic.twitter.com/9utUG5cuuF

— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) March 13, 2026

“I saw that and we actually talked about it and that’s incredible, to hit 24 miles per hour in a league where there’s a lot of fast guys it speaks a lot.”

Connor McDavid is considered the fastest player in the NHL and his speed of 24.61 MPH is third.

At 12:05 of the third period of last night’s game, Beck Malenstyn recorded the fastest skating speed (24.94 mph) in the NHL EDGE era (since 2021-22). It marked the second time this season he reached 24 mph or faster (Nov. 28 vs. New Jersey; 24.06 mph). In 2025-26, the average… pic.twitter.com/05pKXKoIY6

— Buffalo Sabres PR (@SabresPR) March 13, 2026

FRIDAY’S LINES:

Krebs – Thompson – Tuch (Kozak)
Zucker – McLeod – Quinn
Ostlund – Norris – Doan
Benson – Carrick – Malenstyn

DEFENSE:

Byram – Power
Stanley – Schenn
Dahlin – Metsa
Dunne – Kesselring