Sabres’ Noah Ostlund Suffers Lower-Body Injury

Östlund’s status is a key storyline to watch in advance of what will be an extremely important game six for Buffalo.

At this point, it looks more likely than not that the Sabres will have to make do without their talented rookie pivot.

The center, who is the No. 3 prospect in the team’s pool according to Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, had slotted in as the team’s third-line center. He scored a goal and an assist in three games this series.

While Östlund has not been ruled out of the team’s next game officially, Ruff’s statement as well as the visual of the injury both indicate that he’s set to miss at least some time. His absence would leave the Sabres in a somewhat precarious position down the middle. Ruff elevated No. 4 center Tyson Kozak into Östlund’s role after the latter’s injury. But the high-energy bottom-sixer isn’t a natural fit for Östlund’s role.

Hurting the Sabres is the fact that they’re already missing three centers due to injury. 21-year-old Jiri Kulich was already ruled out for the season due to blood clotting. Trade deadline addition Sam Carrick was sensational to start his time in Buffalo, but has been out since the start of the month with an arm injury. Ruff previously ruled out Carrick returning in the first round.

Top-six pivot Josh Norris has been sidelined for three consecutive games due to an undisclosed injury. He participated in the team’s morning skate on Tuesday but wasn’t able to dress last night. His return to the lineup would mitigate a lot of the damage done by Östlund’s injury.

If Norris can’t return for game six, the team does have some options as to how it might fill Östlund’s vacant No. 3 center role. They could shift Peyton Krebs, a natural center who is playing left wing, to the role. The 25-year-old is the Sabres’ most talented candidate to play there, but moving him would risk disrupting the team’s first line.

Krebs has been stellar in the first round playing alongside Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch, and has five points in five contests. He’s continued what was a breakout regular season and Ruff is unlikely to want to break up a combination that has worked so well.

If moving Krebs to the middle isn’t a realistic option, the team’s best option might be to simply dress 27-year-old Joshua Dunne and run him and Kozak as the two bottom-six pivots. Dunne played in the first two games of the series before he was replaced in favor of Kozak.

Regardless of what the Sabres ultimately elect to do, the most important thing to track will be Östlund’s status. With how many injuries the Sabres are already dealing with up front, the hope will have to be that the skilled rookie center’s injury isn’t as bad as it initially looked.