Sabres missing Reinhart, Gorges against Red Wings

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BUFFALO -- The Buffalo Sabres will be missing forward Sam Reinhart and defenseman Josh Gorges on Friday against the Detroit Red Wings.
Reinhart was injured during the second period of a 2-1 loss Wednesday to the Colorado Avalanche when he collided with Avalanche forward John Mitchell. He did not return to the game.

"He's got an upper-body injury and it looks approximately about a week right now [until he returns]," Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. "We'll know a little bit more as he gets evaluated the next day or two. But it looks about a week right now."
The Sabres recalled forward Cal O'Reilly from Rochester of the American Hockey League and placed forward Zemgus Girgensons on injured reserve because of an upper-body injury. O'Reilly had one assist in two games earlier this season for the Sabres. He is the older brother of Sabres center Ryan O'Reilly.
"I think I may get more ice time and more opportunity to create some offense and play with some good guys," Cal O'Reilly said. "Whatever I do get I'm just going to work hard and try and contribute and try and create more offense for us."
With Reinhart out, Bylsma moved Matt Moulson to the top line to play with Ryan O'Reilly and Evander Kane. Moulson hasn't scored a goal since Nov. 1 and has 12 points in 46 games this season.
"I don't like where his game's been at," Bylsma said. "But we're in a situation tonight where we're going to give him a chance to get his game back to where it can be, where it needs to be for us. He's played next to Ryan for a 10-game chunk during this year with Brian Gionta. They were our top line winning the game against [the New York Islanders on Nov. 1] and through that stretch and he needs to -- should and needs -- to provide to be on a top line, to be in a top-six role, and he's going to get that opportunity tonight."
Gorges re-aggravated an upper-body injury that kept him out of games against the Washington Capitals and Arizona Coyotes in the past week. He played 17:52 against the Avalanche on Wednesday. Jake McCabe will replace him in the lineup.
Robin Lehner will make his second straight start in goal for the Sabres.
The Red Wings have lost two straight games (0-1-1) and three of their past four (1-2-1). In their past two games they've scored two goals and they're looking for their offense to rebound.
"You kind of feel on the ice when you're doing good or when you're doing bad, when you're doing good it doesn't mean you're going to win the game," forward Tomas Tatar said. "Hockey is a tricky game; you don't have to play the best to win the game. That's just how it is. So we're in the right processes and doing the right things. We just didn't score on opportunities and lost the game. So we'll keep doing what we're doing and it's going to turn around."
Tatar will play Friday after he missed the game Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues because of an illness. The Red Wings will be without forward Brad Richards against the Sabres; he is attending the funeral of his grandfather, and is expected to be back Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks.
Joakim Andersson, who was placed on waivers Friday, will play in Richards' place.
"Being placed on waivers doesn't mean, as you know, that we have to send him down, and he won't be; he'll stay with us," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "What it does do, if he clears waivers, it gives us the flexibility with our tight cap space that if we needed to send him down … we could do that. So it's a cap-related issue. That's it."
Petr Mrazek will start in goal for Detroit.
Here are the projected lineups:
RED WINGS
Justin Abdelkader - Henrik Zetterberg - Gustav Nyquist
Dylan Larkin - Pavel Datsyuk - Tomas Tatar
Darren Helm - Riley Sheahan - Tomas Jurco
Joakim Andersson - Luke Glendening - Teemu Pulkkinen
Kyle Quincey - Danny DeKeyser
Brendan Smith - Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson - Alexey Marchenko
Petr Mrazek
Jimmy Howard
Injured: Niklas Kronwall (knee), Drew Miller (knee), Johan Franzen (concussion)
Scratched: Brad Richards
SABRES
Matt Moulson - Ryan O'Reilly - Evander Kane
Cal O'Reilly - Jack Eichel - Jamie McGinn
Marcus Foligno - Johan Larsson - Brian Gionta
Phil Varone - Tim Schaller - David Legwand
Zach Bogosian - Rasmus Ristolainen
Jake McCabe - Cody Franson
Mike Weber - Mark Pysyk
Robin Lehner
Chad Johnson
Injured: Sam Reinhart (upper body), Josh Gorges (upper body), Zemgus Girgensons (upper body), Tyler Ennis (upper body), Cody McCormick (blood clot)
Scratched: Carlo Colaiacovo
Status update: The Red Wings held an optional morning skate Friday so lines were not available. Blashill did say Andersson would play with Glendening and Pulkkinen, which was the same line used against the Blues on Wednesday.
Who's hot: Ryan O'Reilly has a three-game assist streak. … Eichel has one goal and two assists in the past two games.