The Sabres are on the ice at First Niagara Center a half-hour early so they can get on the plane to Ottawa and the injury hits just keep on coming as leading goal scorer Thomas Vanek is not practicing.
Vanek, easily Buffalo's most consistent player of late, took what was close to a knee-on-knee hit late in Friday's game against Toronto and appeared to struggle a couple of times in Pittsburgh too. We're going to have to wait until after practice to see if this is a "maintenance" day or if there's some issue.
Tyler Ennis and Patrick Kaleta are also off the ice today and the Sabres are thus getting woefully thin up front. They don't even have four lines at practice today. Right now the lines are:
Adam-Szczechura-Pominville
McCormick-Roy-Stafford
Ellis-Gaustad-Kassian
Marc-Andre Gragnani is skating as a forward with Brad Boyes, who is not close to being ready. The other six defensemen are on the ice. Clearly, the Sabres might need another forward (Marcus Foligno? Derek Whitmore?) for Tuesday's game and perhaps beyond.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
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