Three Sabres miss practice

The Sabres, who had a meeting scheduled to discuss subtance abuse and league policies, held a short practice today following Wednesday's 3-0 victory over the Islanders. For three players, there wasn't even a short practice.

Defenseman Andrej Sekera was off the ice due to illness, while blue-liner Toni Lydman and goaltender Patrick Lalime stayed away because of groin injuries.

Lalime and Lydman will not play Friday when the Flyers visit HSBC Arena, while Sekera is questionable.

"We'll see how he's doing tomorrow," coach Lindy Ruff said. "He was a little under the weather after the game last night and wasn't feeling that well this morning. Flu-like, possibly. Maybe not like the other guys [Patrick Kaleta and Paul Gaustad were too sick to travel to New York over the weekend], but you've got to let it run its course."

There is no time table for the return of Lalime, meaning Jhonas Enroth could make his first NHL start this weekend. The Sabres travel to Boston on Saturday.

"[Lalime] still isn't, obviously, ready, so that pushes Jhonas into a bigger role for us," Ruff said.

Lydman had been participating in most drills with his teammates, but the Sabres are now taking a different approach with the defenseman, who has missed the past five games.

"Toni we've decided just to rest for a couple days," Ruff said. "He's close, but the doctors felt with maybe a couple days' rest and then going back and skating, it might be a better approach than fatiguing it on a continuous, day-to-day type scenario."

---John Vogl

Comments

[roy]

sabres don't play for lalime because they are so in love with miller. they're certainly not going to play for enroth

[CalgarySabre2]

Start Enroth in Boston. On the road, against a team below .500 - see what he can do. You have to find out by putting him into a game. On another note, did you see the Flames beat Dallas in OT when Dallas took a penalty for "Delay of game - puck over glass", even though the player was clearly over the blueline? I thought Marc Crawford would explode. It was hilarious. Chill, Marc, the Stars won the Stanley Cup on an illegal goal; this just cost you 1 point in OT. But: 1) it was the wrong call; 2) the rule is a stupid rule and should never have been implemented. Probably cost Sabres a spot in the finals a few years ago, too.