(WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Sabres have put goalie Colten Ellis on Injured Reserve, just two days after he was placed in concussion protocol after being elbowed in the head during Tuesday's win in Edmonton over the Oilers.
Buffalo native Trevor Kuntar has been activated, and participated in the morning skate Thursday in Vancouver. Kuntar signed with the Sabres on Wednesday.
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Josh Norris was ill during pregame warm up on Tuesday and was pulled from the lineup. He has points in all four games he's played since coming back from injury, scoring two goals and five assists for seven points. He’s also been minus-7 in his last three games.
They Sabres are also missing Jason Zucker, who was also on a four-game point streak with three goals and two assists for five points before getting hurt. He played nine games since missing two weeks with an illness and had five goals and six assists for 11 points.
Buffalo picked up its third road victory of the season against the Oilers. They’re 3-9-2 away from home and 3-4-0 in their last seven road contests.
Alex Lyon entered in relief both on Monday in Calgary for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, as well as Tuesday in Edmonton for Ellis.
Lyon played 17:29 in relief of Luukkonen and stopped all four shots he faced against the Flames. Then on Tuesday, he played 41:32 after Ellis was injured and made 21 saves on 24 shots.
Tuesday was Lyon's first win since Oct. 24 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He had lost five-straight games prior to that victory.
Overall this season, Lyon is 4-6-3 with a 3.22 goals-against average and an .899 save percentage.
The overtime victory in Edmonton broke the team’s three-game losing streak. Their .467 points percentage is still dead last in the Eastern Conference and 29th overall in the NHL.
The Sabres went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill against a team that, at the time, was No. 1 in the NHL. Buffalo is second on the penalty kill at 86.2%. The Tampa Bay Lightning is the only team better at 86.5%, while the Colorado Avalanche are right behind the Sabres at 86%.
In his last five games, Rasmus Dahlin has one goal and six assists for seven points.
In the last two games, Tage Thompson has gotten back on the scoresheet with two goals and two assists for four points. He’s had two goals disallowed in his last two games as well.
Josh Doan has points in 5-of-6 games, scoring three goals and four assists for seven points.
The Canucks are the worst team in the NHL with a points percentage of .417, but don’t get too comfortable with that. Buffalo has lost twice to the Calgary Flames, who are 31st.
The Sabres have also lost twice to the 27th-ranked team, the Utah Mammoth, and once to the 28th-ranked St. Louis Blues and 26th-rated Winnipeg Jets.
Against teams that are 26th or lower in the NHL this season, Buffalo is 1-5-1 and have been outscored 28-15.
Vancouver has just two wins in 10 games, and three victories in 14.
The team is celebrating getting goalie Thatcher Demko back. He played just 20 minutes in the last 16 games. He’s 5-4-0 this season with a 2.80 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage.
That might explain why the Canucks are last in the league in goals-against average.
Vancouver has won four of its last five games against Buffalo.
Elias Pettersson is one of their leading scorers with just 22 points in 28 games. However, Petersson has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury.
Nils Hoglander played his first game of the season just this past Monday.
Filip Chytil has been out of the Canucks lineup since Oct. 21 with an upper-body injury.
Teddy Blueger has been out for all but two games this season with a lower-body injury.
Defenseman and captain Quinn Hughes also has 22 points this season in 25 games.
Join Brian Koziol and myself at 9 p.m. for pregame coverage on WGR.
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