The Buffalo Sabres received disastrous news on their goaltending tandem Wednesday morning as they learned that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Malcolm Subban, both of whom were injured in Tuesday's 6-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, will be out for the long term.
Both Luukkonen and Subban are expected to be out for weeks, the team said. Luukkonen has a lower-body injury while Subban, who relieved the starter to open the second period, has an upper-body ailment after he was fallen on by Tampa forward Patrick Maroon late in that period.
General Manager Kevyn Adams said Subban's injury is the more severe of the two and the Sabres are officially listing him out as month to month. Luukkonen is listed as week to week.
"It is shocking," coach Don Granato said after practice. "As I mentioned last night, we didn't know after the game because doctors have to do imaging and find out severity of injuries. In both cases, we get the news this morning that definitively this is the situation and you just adjust and acclimate to it."
The Sabres have recalled Aaron Dell from Rochester and have re-signed Amerks goalie Michael Houser to an NHL deal at one year and $750,000. Dustin Tokarski is also on the ice but remains in Covid-19 protocol and is working to regain his strength and sharpness after be became ill the first week of December.
Injury report: pic.twitter.com/pOHMksBnAg
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The Sabres hit the road Wednesday afternoon for Nashville, where they play the Western Conference-leading Predators on Thursday night. They then have a home-and-home series with Detroit, Saturday in Little Caesars Arena and Monday in a Martin Luther King Day matinee in Buffalo.
Granato said his "inclination" is to go with Dell against the Predators because he has played 121 NHL games with San Jose, New Jersey and the Sabres.
The Subban injury nearly put the Sabres in position to need an emergency backup goalie for the third period of the game. The team's standby is Travis Moore, a 36-year-old who played for Buffalo State in 2007-08.
"It's obviously a tough situation," Adams said. "Malcolm played through it and said he could get through the game but it just wasn't feeling right after. It looks like it could be a significant amount of time."
Luukkonen is 2-5-2 with a 2.74 goals-against average and .917 save percentage in nine games for the Sabres this year. A long-term injury will again cut into his development time as he had emerged as the club's No. 1 goalie because of Tokarski's illness and and upper-body injury suffered by veteran Craig Anderson Nov. 2 in San Jose. Anderson remains out but the Sabres have said on multiple occasions they expect him to return this season.
Dell went 0-5, 4.52/.872 for the Sabres but has been appreciably better in Rochester over multiple trips this year (5-0, 2.76/.910).
Houser is 5-4, 2.98/.900 for the Amerks this season. He was one of the most unlikely stories in the NHL late last season, getting four starts for the Sabres and earning his first two NHL wins on back-to-back nights against the New York Islanders after spending much of the previous eight seasons in the ECHL.
In other news from practice, the Sabres have returned Jack Quinn and Casey Fitzgerald to Rochester, as the Amerks play Utica Wednesday night in Blue Cross Arena. Granato said defenseman Robert Hagg, who has missed the last seven games, will return to the lineup Thursday. The team is also expecting wingers Alex Tuch and Kyle Okposo back in the lineup off the Covid protocol list.
