Tage Thompson will return for the Buffalo Sabres when they host the Detroit Red Wings at KeyBank Center on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+, SNO, SNE).
The center has missed nine games with an upper-body injury sustained during a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Nov. 14, when he was blocking a shot by Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy. Thompson was wearing a regular jersey during the Sabres morning skate Tuesday, his first time practicing since his injury.
“Any time you’re up top watching, it [stinks],” Thompson said Tuesday. “You always want to be on the ice helping the team. Fortunately, it healed pretty quick and I get to be on the ice tonight.”
Buffalo (10-13-2) was 3-5-1 during Thompson’s three-week absence; his original prognosis at the time of the injury was week to week.
“Obviously, ahead of schedule, but it feels good,” he said. “There’s been no issues and obviously I got it cleared medically, so I mean, it’s kind of just up to me now.”
The Sabres have been outscored 14-7 in losing three straight games, matching their longest losing streak this season.
Thompson, who is expected to return to his role on the first line, has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in 16 games this season. Last season he led Buffalo with 94 points (47 goals, 47 assists), setting NHL career-highs in goals, assists and points.
Sabres coach Don Granato said it’s “very important” to have Thompson back in the lineup.
“He is a very, very competitive guy as we all know,” Granato said. “Never really — before he became the Tage Thompson everybody knows now, kind of the household name, there was about four or five years of complete grinding, complete facing adversity and challenge and doubt and he battled through all of that with a very strong will and conviction.
“We’re in a situation now where we need a strong will and conviction, and he’s a guy that’s walked the walk. As we go through this experience, for some and many a first time of such a grind, that will and conviction and turning within yourself is really, really important and obviously he’s a guy that has exemplified that and the success that then follows that. I think that ties in very much to where our group is at.”
Selected by the St. Louis Blues with the No. 26 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Thompson has 209 points (109 goals, 100 assists) in 317 NHL games with the Blues and Sabres.
Forwards Alex Tuch and Jordan Greenway each is expected to be out 7-10 days. Tuch left in the third period of a 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Sunday with an undisclosed injury. Greenway missed the game Sunday because of an upper-body injury.
Goalie Eric Comrie will start for the Sabres on Tuesday, and goalie Devon Levi was recalled from Rochester of the American Hockey League to be the backup. Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is out because of an illness.
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