The Buffalo Sabres allowed three straight second-period goals in a 5-2 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit on Thursday, with a lineup fairly thin on players expected to be in the NHL come early next month. Noah Ostlund and Josh Doan scored power-play goals, and Alexandar Georgiev had a busy night facing 40 Wings shots. 

Head coach Lindy Ruff provided an update on some of the injured players after practice on Friday. Winger Alex Tuch, who has been a participant in practice most of the week, has been given the all-clear and will be in the lineup against Detroit on Saturday afternoon. Ruff was less certain of the status of winger Jiri Kulich, who left practice on Thursday morning with a muscle tweak. 

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Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen practiced for the second day in a row on Friday, increasing his chances of getting in action next week in one of the two remaining pre-season games. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson was not on the ice on Friday after what Ruff described as an upper-body injury. 

"He couldn't practice today, so we'll have to evaluate him. He had a good practice yesterday, and maybe that affected him.”

Alex Lyon will play the entire game against his former club on Saturday. In other news, former Detroit and Buffalo goalie James Reimer has signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs on a professional tryout contract. The 37-year-old had a 10-8-2 record in 22 games with the Sabres last season, with a 2.85 GAA and .901 save %.

The club also announced that they have sent defenseman Noah Laberge and goalie Ryerson Leenders back to their junior clubs. Laberge was the Sabres fifth-round pick (135th overall) in the 2025 Draft, while Leenders was selected in the seventh round (219th overall) of the 2024 Draft 

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