Mike Harrington

Sports Columnist

I can report Jason Zucker’s deadpan, which generally has no equal in the Sabres’ locker room, is already at regular-season levels. No problem from this point of view. Through his joke, Zucker was making a point late Tuesday night after the Sabres’ 2-1 exhibition victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in KeyBank Center.

Reminded of all the talk in training camp about the team’s need to improve its defensive mentality, Zucker initially gave reporters a hard stop when he straight-faced “first I’ve heard of that” as his answer.

Zucker smiled, we chuckled and then things got back on the straight and narrow.

“It’s something we knew we needed to be better at from last year and I think’s been a good step,” Zucker said. “But two preseason games isn’t enough to

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