Sabres’ Slim Playoff Chances Take Another Significant Hit Amid Latest Injury Woes
Things aren’t looking overly bright for the Buffalo Sabres’ current playoff aspirations, as their lineup could be without three regulars Monday night versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Coming off a tough 2-1 overtime loss to the New York Rangers, which extended their losing streak to four games, the Sabres arrived at Sunday’s practice without defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson as well as goaltender Eric Comrie – all of which sat out due to injuries.
The team announced Sunday that Dahlin is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury, with his status for Monday’s rivalry tilt still undetermined. Samuelsson is dealing with a similar injury, although he is considered week-to-week.
Comrie, who hasn’t played since last Thursday, suffered a lower-body injury during a recent practice and is also week-to-week. Buffalo does however expect Comrie and Samuelsson to return before the regular season ends.
At 32-28-5 with 69 points, seven shy of the final wild-card seed in the Eastern Conference, the timing of these injuries couldn’t be any worse for the Sabres. With just 17 games remaining, they’re struggling to rack up points and may have to face one of the NHL’s premier teams without their top defensive pairing.
If Dahlin misses Monday’s contest in Toronto, Sabres head coach Don Granato plans to operate with six defensemen: Owen Power, Henri Jokiharju, Riley Stillman, Ilya Lyubushkin, Jacob Bryson and Kale Clague.
The encouraging news is that Dahlin – who leads Buffalo’s skaters in average ice time (25:44), ranking third league-wide – likely won’t miss too much time due to injury. And the Sabres are extremely lucky in that sense, as the 22-year-old is enjoying a career year, setting new highs in goals (14) and points (63).
Without Comrie, however, the team will rely on the duo of Craig Anderson and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to lead them through this pivotal stretch, with Luukkonen expected to start Monday after making 24 saves over the weekend against New York.
Buffalo welcomed a familiar face back to practice Sunday, though, as forward Alex Tuch skated with his teammates for the first time since Feb. 24th. The 26-year-old, sitting with career-highs in goals (28) and points (62) in 57 games this season, has missed the last eight games with a lower-body injury.
Tuch watched every game while he was away from the team, allowing him to cheer on his teammates from a distance. Now that the right-hander has returned, he hopes to make an immediate impact as soon as he’s cleared for game action.
“It was really tough not being around the guys, not going into battle with them each and every night,” Tuch said following Sunday’s practice. “I just try to work hard to get back to being on the ice with them again. I was all smiles and the first time I stepped out there again, that’s a great feeling.”
The Sabres are racing against the clock to make a late-season playoff surge, with the franchise’s postseason odds sitting at a robust 3.5 percent entering Monday’s slate. They need to start piling up wins immediately to have any chance of ending their 11-season playoff drought in 2023.
Buffalo’s first opportunity to do so will come Monday in Toronto at the Scotiabank Arena, beginning a critical three-game road trip.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.