Matt Savoie's return to the ice in Rochester reminds us of what he can do

It's been five weeks since his injury during the Prospects Challenge and his conditioning assignment in the AHL offers him a chance to shine.

Buffalo Sabres prospect Matt Savoie skates for the Rochester Americans against the Charlotte Checkers on Wednesday night at Blue Cross Arena. (Photo: Micheline Veluvolu/Rochester Americans)

ROCHESTER — This wasn’t the way Matt Savoie’s month of October was ideally supposed to go, but there’s an old cliché about best laid plans that fits well here.

Savoie was injured September 18th in the opening minutes of the Prospects Challenge finale in Buffalo against Pittsburgh, a shoulder injury that caused him to miss training camp and opened the door for his WHL junior teammate Zach Benson to force his way onto the Buffalo Sabres roster.

On Wednesday night, Savoie made his season debut with the Rochester Americans, five weeks exactly after he was injured. He played on a line with fellow top prospects Isak Rosén and Jiri Kulich and assisted on Michael Mersch’s power play goal in the first period to help the Americans to a 4-3 come from behind victory against the Charlotte Checkers.

The result of the game was good for the team and Kulich continued his torrid goal scoring to start the year—he scored his fifth goal in five games to kickstart the Americans’ third period rally—but all eyes were on Savoie to see if his time to claim a spot in the NHL is coming when his conditioning assignment ends late next week.

“I like him a ton,” Americans coach Seth Appert said. “He’s a guy that you feel good when you call his name and put him out for a shift because whether the shift is great or it’s just OK, he’s going to play the right way, he’s going to play fast, he’s going to be competitive, he’s going to hunt pucks and try to be an honest, winning hockey player. He just drips of a hockey player, he really does.”