Sabres' Granato: Thompson to miss 'weeks' with apparent hand injury

Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato said star forward Tage Thompson will be out of the lineup for the foreseeable future after exiting Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins.

"Weeks is what it will be," the head coach said on WGR 550 on Wednesday morning. "(It) could be a little over a month, but it shouldn't be multiple months."

After the Sabres' practice Wednesday, Granato essentially reiterated that by saying Thompson's ailment is "more week-to-week" than month-to-month but also clarified that he doesn't have a target return date yet.

The imposing center took a shot to his hand during the second frame with the Sabres on the penalty kill. Soon after, he headed down the tunnel and was ultimately ruled out for the remainder of the game with what the club called an upper-body injury.

Granato said postgame that Thompson would "probably (miss) some significant time." It was a tough night for Thompson, who also exited the game early in the first period after getting tangled up with Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy in Boston's zone.

Thompson was slow to get to his feet and struggled to get to the bench. There was no penalty called on the play.

The Sabres initially announced that he was questionable to return to the contest with a lower-body injury as a result of the collision, but he rejoined the team at the start of the second period. Granato revealed that Thompson suffered a cut as a result of his run-in with McAvoy.

"Fought through the first injury," the bench boss said. "Couldn't fight through the second one."

Prior to Tuesday's contest, Thompson ranked second on the Sabres with six goals and 12 points in 15 outings. He registered one shot in 5:38 minutes of ice time against Boston.

Thompson erupted for 47 goals and 47 helpers in 78 games last season after notching 38 and 30 in 2021-22. He's currently playing out the first season of a seven-year extension with a cap hit of $7.143 million.

Without Thompson in the picture, Granato acknowledged that the responsibility lies on Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt to step up.

"They're going to have to," the head coach said. "I think those are two guys that have a track record of responding to adversity and challenge and this is a much greater challenge now presented to them and to us as a group."