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Ull In A Day's Work

October 9, 2015, 12:06 PM ET [7 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT



It appears as though Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray has found a short term solution to what may become a vexing long term goaltending conundrum.

For now, Murray is opting to patch the hole in his goal by dipping into his organization's depth at that position.


The Sabres have elevated top goalie prospect Linus Ullmark from AHL Rochester to back up Chad Johnson for Friday's practice. The Sabres can't hold a practice with just one goalie. Johnson was forced to take over the net for the injured Robin Lehner, who played just 27 minutes in the 3-1 season opening loss to Ottawa on Thursday night.


Lehner was injured at the 12:30 mark of the second period in his first start for the Sabres on a seemingly pedestrian play behind his net. The big Swede swung out from behind his net to square up in his crease when he dropped into his butterfly to take on an oncoming shot. The shot was blocked and Lehner struggled to get to his skates. I watched as he called the referee back to his crease where he then called for an injury timeout. Lehner gingerly skated off the ice and to the Buffalo room under the assistance of the team's trainer.


After the game, Lehner was seen hobbling on crutches down the hallway in the bowels on the arena. He wore a walking cast in his right foot. Not a good sign for the Sabres.

Lehner made 11 saves on the 12 shots he faced in the game. A Cody Franson defensive misread led to a Sens goal just 30 seconds into the Buffalo home opener. After that goal, Lehner appeared to collect himself and was playing a strong game in his crease. In other words, the early goal did not seem to rattle him in any way. My eyecball test confirmed that he was not injured at any point before the 12:30 mark of period two.



Murray and Dan Bylsma have short turn around time to replace Lehner due to their 1pm Saturday matinee puck drop against defending Eastern Conference champs the Tampa Lightning. The Columbus Blue Jacket will be the next opponent on Monday afternoon at 3pm.

Chad Johnson will get the start for the Sabres against Tampa.

Ullmark, who had double hip surgery this past spring has not been cleared by team doctors to play. He was not expected to be ready for game action until December. Here it is early October and he is on the ice as a practice goalie. Is he a fast healer or what?

The Sabres selected Ullmark in the sixth round, 163rd overall.

The 22-year-old Ullmark (6'4" 200 lbs.) has played for MODO in the Swedish Elite League Swedish Hockey League the past two years.

Ullmark was pressed into an emergency recall because the Rochester Amerks open their season tonight and Andrey Makarov and Nathan Lieuwen will be the goalies in their season opener.

I expect that with Makarov or Lieuwen will be called up after the Amerks game ends tonight in order to back up Johnson when Steven Stamkos, The Triplet Line and the swashbuckling Bolts invade First Niagara Center for their Columbus Day / Canadian Thanksgiving/ Eichtoberfest matinee.



Murray is prudently waiting for Lehner's test results to arrive at First Niagara Center before he makes a trade or another roster move. In his post game presser, Bylsma said that it looked like Lehner's injury would not be of the short term variety.


One fully expects that Tim Murray will be making calls to his NHL GM counterparts, like Calgary, in the interim in order to find a long term solution to Lehner's injury. The Flames have three quality starting goalies on their current roster with Jonas Hiller, Karri Ramo and Joni Ortio. Hiller and Ramo are pending UFAs. It appears as though Flames GM Brad Treliving is leaning towards a Ramo-Ortio tandem this season. The 33 year old Hiller is a solid NHL veteran who won 26 games for the upstart Flames in 2014-15. He carries a $4.5 million cap hit this season. Coincidentally, Flames assistant general manager Craig Conroy was in Buffalo for last night's Sabres-Senators game.

Murray has $9.5 million in available cap space should he choose to make a trade.


***

Captain Brian Gionta didn't skate on Friday. He is day to day with his lower body deal.

Dan Bylsma has promoted Zemgus Girgensons to right wing on line two. Jamie McGinn skated on line four.


Here are the lines from Friday's practice:

Moulson-O'Reilly-Ennis
Kane-Eichel-Girgensons
Foligno-Larsson-Reinhart
Deslauriers-Legwand-McGinn


Terry Murray kept his D pairs the same as the Ottawa formations.
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