BUFFALO – Right now, the Sabres don’t plan to recall a forward to replace winger Conor Sheary, who’s week-to-week after suffering an upper-body injury Monday, the team announced this morning.
The Sabres have 12 healthy forwards for tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, which is enough for coach Ralph Krueger and general manager Jason Botterill.
Evan Rodrigues, a healthy scratch the first three games, practiced Tuesday in Sheary’s spot at right wing beside center Casey Mittelstadt and Jimmy Vesey.
“At the moment, we’re just going to stay with the group we have,” Krueger said inside KeyBank Center. “We all know it’s a quick turnaround. We feel comfortable, even if something did happen in the afternoon, going seven (defensemen) and 11 (forwards) would be fine for today and then we’d reaccess.
“Jason and I are speaking about it, but we’d like the group in Rochester to get ready for the weekend.”
The Rochester Americans have three road games this weekend, starting Friday against the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Meanwhile, Krueger said Rodrigues will play on the power play.
“We have a long season ahead and there’s always going to be somebody in that position,” Krueger said of a spare forward. “It happened to be him, but he’s ready to go tonight.”
In other lineup news, Krueger said goalie Carter Hutton will start tonight, his third nod this season. Linus Ullmark played in Monday’s 4-3 overtime loss in Columbus.
Montreal backup Keith Kinkaid will oppose Hutton.