BUFFALO — Oft-injured Sabres center Josh Norris did not return to the lineup before the Olympic break.
Norris, who has missed the last 12 games with an upper-body injury, sat out Thursday’s contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He began practicing again last week.
“Really just not quite ready,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said in KeyBank Center. “He’s close, but (the) conversations we’ve had, if he would’ve been available, he would’ve played. He’s not available, but I would fully anticipate after break he’ll be good.”
The Sabres play their first game following the break on Feb. 25.
Injuries have limited Norris to just 19 games this season. He has been productive when healthy, scoring six goals and 17 points.
Meanwhile, winger Zach Benson, who suffered an upper-body injury when he crashed into the boards in Monday’s 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers, missed Thursday’s game.
Benson appeared to hurt his left shoulder.
“Got a good report on him,” Ruff said. “Just going to need a little bit of therapy, and he should be back after the break, too.”
Some other injury updates from Ruff:
– Earlier this week, winger Jordan Greenway, who has missed the last seven games as he battles pain following two hernia surgeries, met with the doctor to examine options.
“We’re just trying to figure out exactly needs to be done,” Ruff said. “So we’ll know that within the next couple days.”
– Defenseman Conor Timmins, who has missed the last 24 games with a broken leg, is doing better but still using crutches.
Ruff said Timmins is getting close to walking on his own.
“I wouldn’t anticipate him being back right (after the break), but I think by that time he may be skating, hopefully,” he said.
Instead of dressing defenseman Michael Kesselring for Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff gave the newcomer a chance to reset.
Having battled injuries all year, Kesselring hasn’t found much of a groove. Since training camp, he has dealt with a knee injury and a high ankle sprain he re-injured.
In his first 23 outings, he showcased glimpses of what made him a coveted return in the trade that sent JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth.
So Ruff scratched the 6-foot-5, 215-pound Kesselring on Tuesday and went over parts of his game with him.
“I spent some time with him about where I thought his game was at,” Ruff said prior to Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in KeyBank Center. “He’s been struggling with the injury part of it and coming back and another injury. Again, suffered the same injury, so really just felt just take a breath, take a game off, get him back in tonight. But get your head in the right place.”
Ruff believes Kesselring, 25, has sometimes tried to do too much or force things.
“Play well defensively and make a good first pass,” he said. “I think he’s really trying to push the game in a sense where up ice where probably not the greatest time to be going. But just trying to make stuff happen instead of just let it happen.”
Kesselring returned for Thursday’s game, the Sabres’ final outing before the Olympic break. To make room, they scratched defenseman Zach Metsa.
Ruff said it’s “kind of heartbreaking” the lower-body injury Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen suffered Jan. 27 will force him to miss the Olympics.
Luukkonen, 26, earned a spot last month on Team Finland for the Milano Cortina Games.
“You end up within a week or two of going, and you end up with an injury,” he said. “Nothing serious, but it’s going to hold him out of it.”
He has missed the last five games.
Prior to the game, the Sabres presented their Olympians, captain Rasmus Dahlin (Team Sweden) and center Tage Thompson (Team USA), their respective countries’ flags.
Dahlin also participated in a ceremonial faceoff with Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, a member of Team Canada.
Former Sabres captain Mike Ramsey, a member of 1980 US “Miracle On Ice” team, dropped the puck.