'That next man up mentality is huge’ | Sabres playing through adversity with early injuries

The carousel of injuries continued for the Buffalo Sabres this week.

Zach Benson was sidelined for the season opener after taking a puck to the face in practice on Wednesday. Owen Power practiced without a non-contact jersey on Wednesday and looked primed to play against the Rangers, but he was held out due to an illness.

Josh Norris, who played in just three games last year after being acquired from the Ottawa Senators, didn’t finish the game due to an upper-body injury.

Coach Lindy Ruff said after Friday’s practice at LECOM Harborcenter that it’s a separate injury from the oblique issue that ended Norris’ 2024-25 season. He'll continue to be evaluated on Friday and will not play Saturday against the Boston Bruins.

Defenseman Bowen Byram, who’s missed significant action during his career due to concussion and lower-body injuries, feels for his teammate.

“It sucks; knock on wood, I’ve been there before,” Byram said. "Things are going to happen for whatever reason, but you feel awful for him. But I know he's a mentally strong guy that's unfortunately been through it before, so he knows what he needs to do to get back and playing.

“It's pretty unfortunate when you see how good he looked in the preseason, and it's frustrating. ... I'm not worried about him. I know he works hard and he'll be back soon.”

In addition to Norris’ absence, Ruff noted that Benson will be released from the hospital Friday but will not travel to Boston. Benson could resume skating this weekend, and Ruff is “optimistic” for his return at some point next week – possibly Wednesday versus Ottawa.

Power didn’t practice on Friday but is expected to make the trip to Boston and potentially return to the lineup. It would be a significant addition to a defensive core that opened the season with only six healthy options.

Ruff said he talked with the team before Friday’s practice, and the Sabres are working with a “no excuses” mentality. Alternate captain Alex Tuch echoed that mindset and feels this early adversity could benefit the group going forward.

“That ‘next man up’ mentality is huge,” Tuch said. “I think we're all really confident in everybody that we have on our roster; anyone that we insert on the lineup I think we're really confident in. I think we have a lot of depth guys that are able to play up and down the lineup, and I think that'll be huge. I mean, that's what the best teams do, is insert guys when their injury happens, when the best player goes down, and they're still able to win games and impose their will on other teams. I don't think it's good that it happened to us in the beginning, but I think it'll be a learning experience for us and make us better in the long run.”

Byram was one of the players thrust into a different spot, working the bumper position on the second power-play unit – he's more familiar with the point, which Power played Thursday.

“Guys have to step up in different roles and play well,” Byram said. “At the end of the day, it doesn't really affect the mindset of our team. I mean, obviously we're missing important guys, but at the end of the day, we got to go out there and play hard and play to our identity.”

With 10 games in the next 20 days, Ruff will need to continue mixing and matching to find a winning formula with his roster. On Friday, Jiri Kulich elevated to the top line between Jason Zucker and Tage Thompson, a position he played for much of last season. Thompson will likely remain a winger for now, the head coach expects.

“When you go back to last year, that line of Kulich and Benson and Thompson were a heck of a line for us,” Ruff said. “We'll go back to that. We get Benny back, we get Kesselring and Power back, and that'll help us. Greenway's not that far away – another body to fill in. We're dealing with a little bit of adversity right now. We’ve got to get through it, and we’ve got to win hockey games.”

Here’s more from Friday’s practice.

Practice lines

Josh Dunne recalled to Buffalo

With Norris not traveling to Boston, the Sabres recalled forward Josh Dunne from Rochester (AHL) on Friday morning.

The 26-year-old, in the second year of a 2-year contract, was one of the final cuts from the Sabres’ training camp roster and was named an assistant captain for the Amerks this season.

Dunne is known for his power-forward style of play but flashed some skill with 29 points in 68 regular season games and had seven points in eight playoff games last year. Dunne logged three preseason games with the Sabres this year, totaling 11 hits while playing more than 11 minutes per contest.

“He had a good preseason,” Ruff said. “I thought from the top of the circles down, (he’s) a big body that got to the net and played well for us. Physical. We’ll make a decision where he's in, but I think he's being rewarded for having a good camp.”