Sabres’ Zemgus Girgensons is day-to-day with upper-body injury

The team also said that defenseman Mattias Samuelsson is out with an upper-body injury and still getting imaging. The club remains hopeful that he is also day-to-day.

Both players are expected to be out for Saturday afternoon’s game against the San Jose Sharks.

It’s unclear how Girgensons injured himself in Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, but he only played three shifts for 1:01 of total ice time.

In 34 games this season, Girgensons has four goals, averaging 11:56 of ice time, the lowest of his career. Taken No. 14 overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Girgensons, now in his 10th NHL season and entirely with the Sabres, has 85 goals and 93 assists for 178 points in 656 career games.

The Sabres are 21-23-4 with 46 points, seventh in the Atlantic Division and nine points out of the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Forward Casey Mittlestadt leads the team in scoring with 40 points (12 goals and 28 assists), followed by defenseman Rasmus Dahlin with 38 points (13 goals and 25 assists). Dahlin also leads the team in ice time, averaging 25:02 through 47 games.

Zach Benson, taken No. 13 overall by the Sabres in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, has four goals and 10 assists for 14 points through 37 games, averaging 14:59 of ice time.

In net, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has an 11-11-2 record with a .908 SV% and a 2.63 GAA, while Devon Levi has a 9-7-2 record with an .891 SV% and a 3.30 GAA.