"Jack Eichel went out of state to get a deeper assessment of the upper-body injury that we're looking at right now and we hope to have a complete assessment here within the next couple of days and we will let you know once we have some clarity on that," Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said Thursday. "You can feel that this is a 7-10-day minimum that we're dealing with here from the point of him not playing with us."
Eichel, who missed a 5-4 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, missed two games with a lower-body injury Feb. 25 and 27. The center is tied for second on the Sabres with 18 points, one behind forward Sam Reinhart, but has scored two goals in 21 games, the fewest to start his six-season NHL career.
The Sabres (6-14-4) had been outscored 33-15 over eight straight losses (0-6-2), and their .333 points percentage was tied with the Detroit Red Wings for last in the NHL.
Buffalo, which hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday (MSG-B, ATTSN-PT, SNE, SNO, SNP, NHL.TV) is 2-10-2 since Feb. 15, when it returned after having six games postponed due to NHL COVID-19 protocols.
"It doesn't eat away at the morale because we focus on who is here, who's healthy, what our lineup is and how we can get the best game out of this group," Krueger said before the game Tuesday. "So it's a simple game day process that happens here and the guys are all in.
"I mean, this is all about attitude right now. Since we've come back from COVID, we've had a lot of adversity to deal with. But we're dealing with it in the same way we have with good times, is we continue to push for growth, we continue to push for an attitude that moves us forward, and we continue to push for working on these solutions together as a group."
With Eichel out, Dylan Cozens played center for the first time this season Tuesday between Reinhart and Taylor Hall. Reinhart scored twice but the Sabres were unable to hold a 3-1 first-period lead against the Flyers.
"We're not at the point where we are taking moral victories from being close in games right now, that's just the sad reality of it," Reinhart said. "Right now, it's disappointing we couldn't finally get a win."
NHL.com independent correspondent Heather Engel contributed to this report
