Seven games have been added to the Buffalo Sabres' schedule in February, according to a comprehensive revision of the 2021-22 NHL slate announced Wednesday by the league.
Five of the new games are makeup dates of postponed contests, and two have been moved back from their original dates in April.
"We had no problem putting him out there and using him," coach Don Granato said. "Back-to-back nights, he's a young guy, skating well and he's such an efficient skater, too. He plays efficiently there. So that was a reason for more minutes. Minutes are less taxing to him."
The Sabres' February schedule will maintain its original three games that were scheduled for the road: Feb. 1 at Vegas, Feb. 25 at St. Louis and Feb. 27 at Dallas. The club will then have four home games in the month and three more games slated for the road.
The additions are: Thursday, Feb. 10, vs. Columbus, 7 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 13, at Montreal, 12:30 p.m; Tuesday, Feb. 15, vs. New York Islanders, 7 p.m.; Thursday, Feb. 17, vs. Ottawa, 7 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 19, vs. Colorado, 1 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 20, at Columbus, 6 p.m.; and Wednesday, Feb. 23, at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
The Feb. 17 and Feb. 23 games were originally slated to be played April 20 and April 26, respectively, but were moved to accommodate other games. Buffalo's five other changes are makeups of games postponed in December and January due to Covid-19 protocols or Canadian attendance restrictions. TV assignments for the games will be announced at a later date.
The Sabres will be off from Feb. 2-8 on a bye week. The changes leave them with 14 games in April, instead of 16.
The Sabres said that ticket holders can use their original tickets for the rescheduled dates and the team will reach out to customers via email. For immediate questions, season and minipack subscribers can email Account.Services@Sabres.com.
The Sabres were off Wednesday. They host the Dallas Stars on Thursday night at 7 p.m. and the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in their final home game prior to the All-Star break.
Under the original schedule issued in the summer that included a three-week Olympic break, Buffalo was going to have no home games from Jan. 22 until the March 4 game against Minnesota. That gap has now been filled in.
Houser was active in his crease all night, moving well laterally and getting to rebounds quick in the Buffalo Sabres' 3-1 victory, which included goals from Dylan Cozens, Mark Jankowski and Alex Tuch.
The league announced new dates for 98 games postponed from Nov. 18-Jan. 18 and date changes to 23 other games in March and April to accommodate the postponed games.
In all, there are 95 games scheduled for the period from Feb. 7-22, which was slated to be the Olympic break before the NHL and NHLPA announced players would not be going to Beijing because of the impact of the Omicron variant on the NHL schedule.
The revised schedule maintains the original closing date of April 29, which will see the Sabres host the Chicago Blackhawks in the final game at the microphone for retiring play-by-play announcer Rick Jeanneret.
