'Won't happen again': Sabres held team meeting amid Thompson fallout
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The Buffalo Sabres cancelled practice Monday and instead held a team meeting to discuss the lack of response to New Jersey Devils forward Stefan Noesen for his hit to the head of Tage Thompson.
Noesen was given a match penalty for elbowing and thrown out of the game on Sunday, but was not challenged by any members of the Sabres as the whistle blew for the call.
“We had some hard conversations,” Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters Tuesday. “It’s over. What we discussed will stay inside the room and we’re moving on to try to win tonight.”
“It was dealt with yesterday. Everything,” forward Alex Tuch added. “Now we’re going to move on and focus on the positives of having three wins in a row.”
Thompson was lunging for the puck near the blueline when Noesen knocked it away and continued charging into Thompson. The hit knocked Thompson’s helmet off and spun him around. Buffalo’s top scorer was down on the ice for a moment before rising to one knee and skating off the ice on his way to the dressing room.
Ruff told reporters after the game that Thompson passed the concussion-related tests, but he has since been ruled out of Tuesday's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Sabres forward Dylan Cozens noted that some players lamented not being able to leave the bench after the hit, or being on the ice instead of the four players that were.
“I think there’s a lot of guys that wish they were on the ice when that happened,” Cozens said. “But we talked about it, we dealt with it and that won’t happen again.”
Buffalo led 4-1 on Sunday, holding on for a 4-3 win over the Devils, their third straight victory. The Sabres, however, continue to sit last in the Eastern Conference, 12 points back of the Blue Jackets for the final wild-card spot.