Sabres Lose Rasmus Dahlin to Upper-Body Injury in Tight Game Against Panthers

The Buffalo Sabres just cannot have nice things. Right in the middle of a tight Monday matchup against the Florida Panthers, franchise cornerstone Rasmus Dahlin headed down the tunnel with an upper-body injury and did not return.

Daily Faceoff reported the exit while the game was locked in a 3-3 dogfight. Losing your number one defenseman in a tie game against a heavy Florida squad is the hockey equivalent of trying to change a tire while the car is still moving on the highway.

Buffalo was already reeling before this puck even dropped. They just got outscored 8-1 over their last two games, dropping ugly contests to the Dallas Stars and Utah Hockey Club. The vibes were already teetering on the edge of a cliff, and now their defensive anchor is dealing with an unspecified upper-body issue.

If you were holding a Dahlin points prop for this afternoon, you are officially staring at a dead ticket. But the bigger issue is what this means for the Sabres' blue line going forward.

You do not just replace a guy who eats massive minutes and runs the top power-play unit by shuffling the pairings and hoping for the best. The entire structure of Buffalo's transition game relies on Dahlin being on the ice to break the puck out cleanly.

The timing could not possibly be worse for a team desperate to find a rhythm. Buffalo has to pack up and head straight to Montreal to play the Canadiens tomorrow night on the second half of a back-to-back. If Dahlin is not on that flight, expect the betting markets to heavily downgrade the Sabres' chances of keeping the puck out of their own net.