The Buffalo Sabres have been riddled with injuries this season and there hasn't been a player impacted more than Tage Thompson. He entered this season with really high expectations as he tried to build off a 44-goal season last year.
However, the expected top line of Zach Benson-Josh Norris-Tage Thompson has yet to play a single minute together. Zach Benson suffered an injury in practice right before the season opener and returned in the fourth game but by then Josh Norris was already out after suffering his injury in the season opener.
Since then, it has been seemingly a revolving door of players that has included Jiri Kulich, Jason Zucker, Josh Doan, and Alex Tuch. Recently, Thompson has been working alongside Jordan Greenway and Jack Quinn before the Sabres tried a line of Isak Rosen-Noah Ostlund-Tage Thompson against the St. Louis Blues.
Buffalo Sabres need to try that line again after a disastrous performance against the Blues
On Thursday, Lindy Ruff tried to put two of their rookies alongside their star forward in hopes they could get Thompson going, who has had only one goal in the past six games. Fans watching the game saw pretty clearly that it did not look good, and Thompson had one of his worst games of the season.
Based on that sample size, it wouldn't make sense for the Sabres to go back to this line. However, with the injuries the team has, this line has the most potential to not only break Thompson out of his slump but also give the offense as a whole a spark.
The reason that this game might be different is that the Sabres put those three on the ice against the Blues without any practice time before the game. There wasn't any familiarity between the players, and it showed.
Now with a game playing together, and a practice session on Friday, it might be just enough to give this line the spark they need. Rosen and Ostlund have been productive this season as they both have had their first career goals over the past week, and Rosen was dominating at the AHL level with five goals and seven assists in October before the call-up.
The potential is there for this line to be really productive and create some great scoring chances. For the Sabres, the thought process made sense but putting them out there before any practice ice time set them back.
Now with a little more time together, it is worth giving this line another chance, at least to start the game, to see if the Sabres can get some offensive production.