Girgensons to miss Nashville trip with non-COVID illness

Zemgus Girgensons missed practice on Friday and will not travel with the Sabres for their road game in Nashville due to a non-COVID illness, coach Don Granato announced.
Girgensons fell ill overnight after skating 11:30 for the Sabres against Winnipeg on Thursday. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen previously missed Buffalo's game against Seattle on Tuesday due to an illness.
"We want to make sure there's nothing filtered to other guys," Granato said regarding the decision to hold Girgensons back in Buffalo.

The Sabres will travel to Nashville with 12 forwards after recalling Jack Quinn and loaning Peyton Krebs to Rochester on Friday, part of the team's ongoing roster management as it rotates three goaltenders in Craig Anderson, Eric Comrie, and Luukkonen.
Quinn and JJ Peterka are both expected to be back in the lineup against the Predators on Saturday after sitting the past two games, which Granato said should be a helpful breather for the two rookies amid a condensed schedule. The same philosophy applies to Krebs, who has played 16 straight games.
By temporarily loaning Krebs to Rochester, the Sabres are able to keep Luukkonen on the 23-man roster for the trip to Nashville.
"Everything we do is geared toward winning," Granato said. "Development we feel is hugely impactful to winning more consistently. We have four guys who don't need waivers. At this point, we've shifted day to day with that, thinking of Quinn and Peterka stepping back as developmental opportunity.
"When we will feel that's not a developmental opportunity, that's when we're going to have another decision to make."

Here are more notes from Friday's practice.
1. Alex Tuch took a maintenance day after skating 21:32 against the Jets.
2. Granato said the Sabres' busy schedule will be helpful when it comes to managing playing time among their three goaltenders. The Sabres are three games into a stretch of 13 games in 22 nights, which began at home against the Flyers on Monday.
Anderson, Comrie, and Luukkonen each started one game this week.
"I think the mindset is good," Granato said. "These guys are hungry for their next game, and their next game is probably some point soon by virtue of our congested schedule. So that usually goes hand in hand. It's challenging to have three typically when you don't have a lot of games. We'll see how it goes every day forward from here."
3.Coverage of the Sabres' game in Nashville on Saturday begins at 7:30 p.m. on MSG begins at 7:30 p.m. The puck drops at 8 on MSG and WGR 550.