The Buffalo Sabres got some relatively positive news on Sunday as winger Victor Olofsson will only be out on a day-to-day basis after leaving Saturday's practice with an upper-body injury.
Early in Saturday's session at KeyBank Center, Olofsson was working against Rasmus Dahlin in a 1-on-1 drill when he lost his balance trying get around the defenseman as he headed to the net. After going down to the ice, the winger slid and crashed hard into the net occupied by goalie Carter Hutton, with his left arm making substantial contact with the goal post.
Olofsson was slow to get up while grabbing his left arm, and he then slowly skated over to the bench and headed down the tunnel to the locker room.
After about 5-10 minutes in the locker room, Olofsson returned to the ice with his teammates and was able to finish the first part of the opening session. However, he was clearly still trying to get over the effects of his injury as he would complete a drill and then continue to shake his left arm.
After the ice was cleared off and flooded for the second part of practice, Olofsson was no where to be seen as he left practice again and did not return.
Buffalo has already been practicing without captain Jack Eichel, who's also dealing with an upper-body injury that he suffered while training. Linus Ullmark has also been unavailable for the Sabres as he was forced to quarantine after dealing with some immigration issues.
Olofsson had been working in on the right wing with Taylor Hall on the left side and Casey Mittelstadt skating at center through the first two practices of training camp. When Olofsson left the ice both times due to the injury, it was camp invitee Riley Sheahan skating in his place.
Here were how the lines looked on Sunday without Eichel or Olofsson in attendance:
Forwards:
Girgensons-Eakin-Okposo
Skinner-Staal-Reinhart
Hall-Ruotsalainen-Thompson
Mittelstadt-Lazar-Rieder
Defense:
McCabe-Ristolainen
Dahlin-Montour
Miller-Jokiharju
Irwin-Davidson
Rasmus Asplund and Sheahan worked as extras on Mittelstadt's line.