The Buffalo Sabres suffered arguably their worst loss of the season on Friday against the New Jersey Devils by a final score of 5-0. It was only the third time they had been shut out this season, but it was the biggest goal differential in a game.
The game was relatively close through the first two periods as the Sabres were only down 2-0 heading into the third period, but a goal in the first two minutes of the final period really took away any hopes of making a comeback. However, in that period, they may have suffered a bigger loss than just the game, as Mattias Samuelsson left the game after taking an elbow to the face from Timo Meier.
He wouldn't return to the game after that hit, and head coach Lindy Ruff said postgame that he was in the concussion protocol. The Sabres' coach said he didn't have an update on whether he passed or not.
Buffalo Sabres will struggle to bounce back without Mattias Samuelsson against the Minnesota Wild
Unfortunately for the Buffalo Sabres they don't have much time to fix things as they are set to play on Saturday night against the Minnesota Wild. Entering this game at full strength, it was going to be a very tough matchup for Buffalo. The Wild have won seven straight, including a 3-2 shootout win over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.
After Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin, there is a strong case to be made that Mattias Samuelsson has been the Sabres' next-best player. He has had a tremendous start to the season as he tries to bounce back from last season.
In 21 games this season, Samuelsson has already set a career-high in goals with five along with seven assists. He has a +/- of +10 and has been close to a career-high in average ice time at 21:58.
The Sabres are already without Michael Kesselring on their blueline and they have had Jacob Bryson playing pretty well in his absence. However, trying to find a player to replace Samuelsson, if he is out for this game, is a tall task.
They do have Zach Metsa on the roster, so he probably is the player to be active, but it's hard to imagine they pair him with Rasmus Dahlin. This means the other pairs are likely going to be shuffled, so it isn't necessarily just a one-for-one replacement.