BUFFALO, N.Y. - Jimmy Vesey returned to Sabres practice Thursday after a week off the ice. An upper-body injury kept him contained to noncontact drills, and Ralph Krueger expects him to miss Friday’s game in Washington. After Thursday's session, Vesey still sounded pleased with his progress. 

"It felt good," he says. "I don’t think any of us like missing time, no one likes watching the games. It felt good to be out there with the team. Just skating. It felt good."

Vesey suffered the injury last week against his former team, the New York Rangers. The initial prognosis was he would be out week-to-week, putting his recovery ahead of schedule.

"Little quicker than [the medical staff] expected," he says. "10-14 days is what they said. Saturday will be nine, but credit to the training staff and strength staff for getting me ready."

On the defensive side, Brandon Montour logged his third straight practice, and it looks like he’ll make his season debut this weekend after recovering from a hand injury. His defensive partner Thursday was Colin Miller, one day after practicing with Rasmus Dahlin. Krueger is still figuring out who Montour will skate with.

"There was no science to the pairs so far, but we feel comfortable moving our pairs around," says the first-year coach. "Changing them, depending on the opposition. Some teams in the NHL are really top-heavy like tomorrow [against the Washington Capitals], with two extremely powerful lines."

Of course that includes Alexander Ovechkin, the NHL's active leader in goals. Ovechkin's 669 goals rank 12th all-time.