Thompson to miss ‘significant time’ for Sabres with upper-body injury

BUFFALO — The Buffalo Sabres will be without Tage Thompson indefinitely after he suffered an upper-body injury during a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

Thompson, a center, sustained the injury in the second period while blocking a shot from Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy during a penalty kill. Despite trying to play through it, he left the game at 11:05 in the second period.

Earlier in the game, Thompson also missed some time in the first period due to a lower-body injury caused by McAvoy’s skate, but he returned to the game early in the second period.

Buffalo coach Don Granato commented, “Tage is going to miss some time here. Probably significant time, unfortunately. He fought through the first injury but couldn’t fight through the second one. Credit to him to battle, but it’s unfortunate.”

Thompson has recorded 12 points (six goals, six assists) in 16 games this season. Last season, he led the Sabres with an NHL career-high 47 goals and 94 points.

Thompson joins a list of injured forwards for Buffalo, including Alex Tuch, Jack Quinn, and Zach Benson.

With Thompson sidelined, the Sabres (7-8-1) will be relying on Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt to step up and help fill the void, according to Granato.

Granato added, “I think those are two guys that have a track record of responding to adversity and challenge, and this is a much greater challenge now presented to them and to us as a group. Obviously, we’re down Quinn, we’re down Tuch, we’re down Thompson. The hope is to get Tuch back, but at the center position specifically, Mittelstadt and Cozens will need to rise in this situation. Their track record has shown that they’ve done that.”