By Chris
It looks like the injuries to Thomas Vanek, Tim Connolly, Patrick Kaleta and Raffi Torres are a little more serious than we may have thought.
The Maine Hockey Journal is reporting that the Sabres have called up Mark Mancari and Nathan Gerbe from the Porland Pirates. Since they’ve both been called up, it looks like the seven defensemen experiment we saw against the Lightning will come to an end. Expect Chris Butler or Andrej Sekera to be scratched.
And with Tyler Ennis recalled late last week, the Sabres could put out an all-Pirates line against the Bruins tomorrow night. If that’s the case, we could see something like this:
Hecht-Roy-Pominville
Kennedy-Gaustad-Stafford
Gerbe-Ennis-Mancari
Ellis-Mair-Grier
We probably won’t know until after tomorrow’s morning skate so we’ll relay the information on injury updates and line combinations once Sabres Edge has it.
UPDATE: Here are the lines the Sabres skated with this morning according to Mike Harrington.
Ennis-Hecht-Pominville
Kennedy-Roy-Stafford
Gerbe-Gaustad-Grier
Ellis-Mair-Mancari
While playing the three new Pirates on the same line could have worked, I think mixing them up throughout the lineup might actually be a better idea. Ennis played very well with Hecht and Pominville on Saturday so it makes sense to keep that line intact. And if it doesn’t work, Lindy Ruff isn’t one to be shy about mixing them up on the fly.