Reinhart benched for full game as punishment

Sam Reinhart is officially in the doghouse, and that doghouse is apparently on the Buffalo Sabres' bench.

Reinhart was benched for all 60 minutes of the Sabres' Tuesday night loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, apparently as punishment for violating a team rule, according to John Vogl of The Buffalo News.

"Earlier in the day, Sam Reinhart violated a team policy, and the discipline was not playing in tonight's game," head coach Dan Bylsma said after the loss, according to Vogl. "We're going to move forward from here. Disappointing, but it happened and we dealt with it."

"We're part of a team. We do things as a team, and that's hopefully the lesson."

Sabres captain Brian Gionta backed up his coach's decision.

"It's for everybody," Gionta said, according to Vogl. "It's not just Sam. It's everybody. It's keeping everybody to the same level, and that's what we want to do. We're building a culture here, so everybody needs to learn from it."

The decision to have Reinhart dress for the game but not take a single shift, as opposed to making him a healthy scratch, meant the Sabres were forced to play with only 11 forwards.

Evander Kane led the forward corps in ice time with 25:24 minutes during the 3-1 loss, while Jack Eichel finished with more than 23 minutes, and Ryan O'Reilly skated for more than 22.

Reinhart has 17 goals and 46 points on the season - the latter mark ranking as the third-highest total among all Sabres skaters.