Pneumonia is one nasty bug but Sabres defenseman Andrej Sekera is over it and had his first full practice today in First Niagara Center. Sekera hopes he can play tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers and the Sabres really need him to with Tyler Myers still on the shelf from his three-game suspension.
"I was short of breath. Even just to go upstairs in my house was tiring," Sekera said. "I couldn't breath very good. as time went on, it got better and better."
Sekera said he lost some weight -- "it wasn't a two-digit number but it was getting close -- but has put most of it back on. Now it's just a case of getting his conditioning back in form. Can he really play the 20-22 minutes we've become accustomed to seeing?
"I will do my best and I will see how it goes from period to period," he said. "I don't promise anything. I just want to get out, skate well and play a hard game to help this team win."
Coach Lindy Ruff took the ice today in a Sabres jacket with a "stop" sign on the back and a "yield" sign on the sleeves. It was a joke outfit made for him by close friend and PGA golfer Dudley Hart.
"That's my on-ice jacket, just a little bit of extra protection," said Ruff, who suffered three broken ribs in practice last month when Jordan Leopold took him out. "Guys notice the stop sign and yield so they don't run me over."
Nathan Gerbe (upper body) is skating on his own and will make the trip. His status is day to day.
Listen to audio from Sekera below.
Andrej Sekera
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
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