Dahlin joins morning skate in Montreal, expresses confidence in Sabres

MONTREAL – Buffalo Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin joined teammates on the ice Tuesday morning at Bell Centre, his first on-ice session with the team since he exited a loss to Colorado on Dec. 3 with back spasms.

Dahlin said he plans to have his first full practice with the team on Thursday and hopes to play against Toronto the following night.

“Today was nice to finally get back with the boys,” Dahlin said. “It’s been a while, so I’m very happy I’m back and feeling better.”

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said Dahlin’s status for Friday will be determined based on how he gets through Thursday’s practice.

“I don’t have the answer,” Ruff said. “It was just another good day. He had a good day yesterday, a good day this morning. Hasn’t been in a practice, so I think we’ll evaluate when we get him in one on Thursday.”

Dahlin left the loss to Colorado following his first shift of the third period, at which point the Sabres held a 4-1 lead. They fell 5-4 in regulation that night and have since seen their winless streak extend to 10 games at 0-7-3. Dahlin has missed the last six contests.

The Sabres captain has made every effort to maintain a presence in the meantime, watching practices from the bench and remaining active in team meetings. He joined the team for its current trip from Toronto to Montreal.

As he awaits the final step in his recovery, Dahlin remained steadfast in his belief in the Sabres' ability to turn their season around.

“I’m trying to do as much as I can, but it’s the guys,” the Sabres captain said. “They’re battling so hard out there. We still believe in it and there’s a lot of good people in there that really want the Sabres to win. So, we will figure this out.”

Other members of the Sabres echoed Dahlin’s optimism on Tuesday morning after owner Terry Pegula traveled to Montreal to address the team on Monday.

“It was important,” alternate captain Tage Thompson said. “I mean, we're all in this together. It's going to take everybody, and I think it just shows how much everyone cares. There's no one in this room that's given up, and I think that starts from our owner showing that. He's committed to us, and it means a lot to everyone in this room that he's coming out here to speak to us personally.

“… You can't do anything about it, so you can just turn the page and move forward and try to grow and get better and become better as a team, become better as individuals and try to dig yourself out of this thing. Or you can keep looking at it and let it negatively affect you and snowball. And I think in this room, we're just making a choice to put this behind us and move forward starting today.”

Dahlin came away from the meeting with the same forward-thinking mentality.

“It’s easy when you have a couple losses in a row for it to snowball, so I think it was a pump-up and a sense of calmness,” he said. “You know, we’re here. We can’t do anything about the past. We’ve got to move forward and that’s what we have to do right now.”