BUFFALO -- Owen Power is out week to week for the Buffalo Sabres with an upper-body injury.
The defenseman was injured in practice Monday when he tried to play the puck in a drill. Power then took his glove off before leaving the ice with a trainer.
"In one week, we'll have a better idea of how long and what a return would look like at that point," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "So, week to week. I think the hope in the short end would be a couple of weeks."
Power is averaging 22:28 of ice time per game, second on the Sabres behind Rasmus Dahlin (25:12), and has played more than 23 minutes in each of the past six games. He has 18 points (two goals, 16 assists) and is plus-3 in 51 games.
The Sabres are without two of their top three defensemen; Mattias Samuelsson (20:30 average ice time per game) had season-ending surgery for an upper-body injury sustained Jan. 23.
"We're down Samuelsson and Owen, so that's about 40-some minutes, close to 50 minutes a game that is going to have to be shared by the rest of the group," Granato said. "[Connor] Clifton … he's probably a guy that's going to get quite a few more minutes and an opportunity as a result."
Jacob Bryson will enter the lineup in place of Power against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; BSW, MSG-B). Buffalo plans to recall a defenseman from Rochester of the American Hockey League.
The No. 1 pick by the Sabres in the 2021 NHL Draft, Power had a slow start to the season but has been playing with more confidence with and without the puck during the past month.
"There's lots of good, lots of areas that he's continued to be good and even progressed, and then lots of areas that you see where he's going to get even better and better," Granato said. "But he's gotten better certainly defensively, closing, starting to use his size (6-foot-6, 221 pounds) and reach advantage more defending. … Penalty kill, he's been better and better.
"So, lots of areas of improvement, but the shoes that he's in, his potential is so enormous that that's going to be an ongoing [process]. You want more and more and more from him just because his ceiling's so high."
Buffalo (22-25-4), which is seventh in the Atlantic Division, has lost two straight games and four of six.
