Josh Norris almost endured a Wally Pipp moment. Pipp, a New York Yankees first baseman, famously missed a June 1925 contest, which allowed the legendary Lou Gehrig to enter the lineup, a role he'd ultimately maintain en route to setting a then-record of 2,130 consecutive MLB games played.
Norris suffered an injury in Game 2 of the Buffalo Sabres' first-round playoff series against the Atlantic Division rival Boston Bruins. His absence created a spot for the returning Noah Ostlund, who'd missed a month with an upper-body ailment.
Ostlund was terrific as Buffalo won two straight games on the road to build a 3-1 series lead and Norris, who was cleared to return for Game 5, remained in the press box.
Unfortunately for the Sabres, the 22-year-old rookie forward suffered a lower-body injury in the first period on Tuesday night.
"He came back and tried, but it doesn't look good," head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters.
The Bruins won the game in overtime courtesy of a David Pastrnak breakaway goal, which sends the series back to Boston for Game 6 on Friday night.
Norris will almost surely rejoin the Sabres top-nine forward group in place of Ostlund, giving the University of Michigan product one more chance to win over the hearts of Buffalo sports fans.
The injury-prone center failed to record a point in the series' first two games while registering just two shots on goal and a minus-one rating.
Josh Norris is running out of chances to prove himself as a long-term building block for the Buffalo Sabres
Norris is talented, there's no doubt about that. He put his high-impact ability on display across his 24 appearances from early December through early March, scoring 23 points (nine goals and 14 assists) while also providing a much-needed boost to the team's dreadful power play.
Those type of stretches simply don't happen enough, though.
The 26-year-old centerman suffered an injury in a season-opening loss to the New York Rangers and proceeded to miss nearly two months. In all, he's played just 158 out of a possible 328 games (48.2%) over the past four seasons dating back to his time with the Ottawa Senators.
Durability may be the most important factor when it comes to cornerstone players, and the Sabres definitely hoped Norris would land in that category after acquiring him from the Sens. He's the organization's highest-paid forward after all ($7.95 million salary).
His production also dipped during the stretch run of the regular season, tallying only 11 points over the final 19 games, and that cold spell carried over into the start of the playoffs.
The Sabres are facing some difficult financial decisions this summer, especially if they want to give winger Alex Tuch a lucrative long-term contract extension, and it'll be hard to justify keeping Norris if his production doesn't improve exponentially for the remainder of the postseason run.
Every player endures a few lulls during the course of an 82-game schedule, but they're magnified if the club can only count on around 50 appearances at baseline. That's the case with the 2017 first-round pick.
It's possible if the Sabres eliminated the Bruins in dominant fashion on Tuesday night that Norris would have remained a healthy scratch to open Round 2. Ruff is an old-school coach who tends to keep leaning on a winning lineup until it proves unsuccessful.
Buffalo instead couldn't convert its first opportunity to advance and lost Ostlund in the process.
As a result, Norris gets another chance to prove he's a true difference-maker. The Bruins are playing an incredibly conservative, defense-focused brand of hockey that's made life difficult on a Sabres offense that was among the league's best during the regular season (fifth in goals scored).
Norris is the type of player who can deliver some individual magic to turn the tide back in Buffalo's favor. Those highlight-reel moments have been few and far between lately, though.
He can change the narrative by playing like a superstar for the rest of the Bruins series and beyond, but it may be his last chance to do so, or calls to trade him in the offseason will become amplified.
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