Sabres waiting to hear how long they'll be without injured winger Jeff Skinner
Jeff Skinner, the Sabres' leading goal-scorer with 17 this season, underwent a battery of tests to determine how much time he'll miss because of an upper-body injury.
A bad start to the Buffalo Sabres' six-game homestand somehow got worse Wednesday morning.
Jeff Skinner, the Sabres' leading goal-scorer with 17 this season, underwent a battery of tests to determine how much time he'll miss because of an upper-body injury.
The Sabres received the news of Skinner's potential absence as they were preparing for their captain, Kyle Okposo, to return to the lineup when they host the Ottawa Senators on Thursday in KeyBank Center. And though Sabres coach Don Granato expressed optimism that Skinner won't be out for long, he also cautioned reporters following practice in LECOM Harborcenter that it was too soon to know for certain.
"We won't know until we get the imaging and then the final doctors look at it and assess it, but it doesn't look like it's going to be long," said Granato. "That's the hope and we can only stick to that right now."
Skinner had one goal, an assist and seven shot attempts in 15:42 of ice time Tuesday night when the Sabres lost at home to the Seattle Kraken, 5-2. He skated on a line with Alex Tuch and Casey Mittelstadt after Tage Thompson was moved to a different trio after the first shift of the game.
Skinner's 33 points in 38 games rank second on the Sabres behind Mittelstadt, who also has a team-high 24 assists. Victor Olofsson skated with Mittelstadt and Tuch during practice Wednesday but has been out of Buffalo's lineup as a healthy scratch in four of its past five games.