Casey Mittelstadt was injured Tuesday. ©2021, Micheline Veluvolu

Sabres’ Casey Mittelstadt expected to return this season after having surgery

BUFFALO – Sabres center Casey Mittelstadt underwent successful surgery today to repair his upper-body injury, coach Don Granato said.

Granato said the Sabres don’t have a timeline for Mittelstadt’s return. He expects the Mittelstadt, who visited a specialist Thursday, will play again this season.

Mittelstadt, 23, suffered his second upper-body injury this season about six minutes into the third period of Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. After getting injured opening night, he missed the next 21 games.

Tuesday’s contest was just Mittelstadt’s fourth appearance this season.

Granato doesn’t know if Mittelstadt reinjured his previous problem. He said the latest injury is in the area of the first one.

In other injury news, goalie Malcolm Subban skated with his teammates this morning, his first session since suffering an undisclosed injury in Saturday’s 6-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

“I’m just happy that it’s a minor thing,” Subban said this morning.

Granato, who Sabres host the New York Rangers tonight, said Subban could be an option for Saturday’s game against the Washington Capitals at KeyBank Center.

“I don’t have a report on him post-skate,” Granato said. “So he went into the skate with the thought after we would evaluate, could be 100 percent.”

Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will start tonight, his second straight nod.

Granato said defenseman Robert Hagg, who has missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury, will sit out again tonight.

“I’m going to hold out today with the only concern we play back-to-back,” Granato said. “Fully expect him in there tomorrow. Just didn’t feel comfortable, personally, putting him in a back-to-back situation upon return.”

Here are the lines and pairs from this morning’s skate.

Forwards (from left to right):

Jeff Skinner, Tage Thompson and Victor Olofsson

Rasmus Asplund, Dylan Cozens and Kyle Okposo

Zemgus Girgensons, Cody Eakin and Vinnie Hinostroza

Brett Murray, Mark Jankowski and John Hayden

Defense (from left to right):

Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju

Jacob Bryson and Colin Miller

Will Butcher and Mark Pysyk

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