Buffalo N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres have already faced a number of challenges in the early parts of the 2025-26 regular season. While injuries have hindered the Sabres with a number of key players missing time, they are also struggling to find consistency in their game over a 1-2-2 stretch over the last five games.
Buffalo will look to turn its luck around on a road trip that will take the team out West for a couple of games against the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday and Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. However, the Sabres have yet to find a win away from home this season in six tries.
On the injury front, winger Zach Benson remains out of the lineup, while forward Jiri Kulich will be out indefinitely with a blood clot issue. Meanwhile, winger Jason Zucker has missed time due to an illness, and captain Rasmus Dahlin has taken a personal leave of absence from the team to attend to matters with his fiancée in Sweden.
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With all the injuries, head coach Lindy Ruff has had to shuffle the lines, but is optimistic with what he sees from some of the combinations.
"I like what we did with the lines. I felt like we were generating a lot more opportunities in the third period [on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes], said Ruff on Tuesday during his weekly appearance with the "Jeremy and Joe Show" on WGR. "I'm excited to see if these line can stay together, and help generate some offense."
Among the players that Ruff and the Sabres will be relying upon to fill the gaps lost in the lineup will be forwards Isak Rosen and Noah Ostlund from the Rochester Americans.
"We're counting on them," said Ruff with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase. "I think the guys we have called up have played well, and if you want to look at Rosen and Ostlund, they both have scored for us. We need secondary scoring to come from a lot of different places, and these are two talented guys".
The constant shakeup of lines, regardless of injuries or other matters affecting players, is something Ruff knows he has to deal with throughout the year.
"We don't want to use that as an excuse. It's the next man's opportunity," Ruff said. "We have shuffled a lot of things around, and we will continue to shuffle. There is nobody coming back for the next couple of games. We are looking for some lines that are generating some offense and some special teams that can help us win hockey games."