The Sabres are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games and complicating matters has been the current injury situation. During their loss to the Bruins on Saturday, they were without William Carrier (finger) and lost Gorges for a large chunk of the game due to a hip injury.
Johan Larsson took a hit into the end boards early on and dislocated his wrist and elbow. He had surgery in Boston to repair the injuries and was on his way back to Buffalo this morning. He's out indefinitely, according to Bylsma.
Ryan O'Reilly has also missed the past three games due to an appendectomy and Dmitry Kulikov has missed the last two with a lower-back injury.
With both Larsson and O'Reilly out, defensively, the Sabres will be looking at some different looks when it comes to matchups concerning the center position.
Sam Reinhart has moved to center in O'Reilly's absence and the roles of Zemgus Girgensons and Derek Grant have elevated. Bylsma said that Girgensons will take on the defensive zone responsibilities once primarily held by Larsson. Eichel, meanwhile, will have to contend with whatever the opposition throws at him, especially because the Rangers and Blackhawks will have the last change.
"It changes the situation fairly dramatically in terms of matchups and situations, especially on the road for these two games," Bylsma said. "Zemgus will kind of assume the position Lars was in - a little bit of the defensive situations, he'll be favored playing in. And Jack's going to get the matchup against whoever they see fit. On the road, that's going to be the challenge for him."
And speaking of matchupda, Brian Duff caught up with Rasmus Ristolainen, who is usually tasked with handling the other team's top players:
