Sabres defenseman Owen Power will not have to have surgery after being injured last week.
The Buffalo Sabres held their second day of locker cleanout and interviews at KeyBank Center and received some favorable news on defenseman Owen Power, who was feared to have a serious leg injury late in the regular season. Power indicated after traveling to New York for a second opinion on the injury that it will not require surgery.
"It went pretty well, I was able to avoid the surgery route, and it should be a couple months," Power said. "I'll be able to get in the gym, probably have to stay away from lower body (work), but I’ve still got to go and figure out what it's going to look like and how I'm going to go about it."
Power left the 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers last Saturday in the second period after defenseman Mattias Samuelsson knocked Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe into the Sabres blueliner, rolling up on his left leg. Head coach Lindy Ruff feared at the time that Power could be lost for some time.
"It looks to be (a serious injury), so we don't really have a time frame yet," Ruff said. "I don't know if I should say month to month, but he would be listed week to week, but that's just me kind of speculating. He'd be out for some period of time."
Avoiding surgery is some good luck for Power and the Sabres. The 22-year-old set a career-high in goals (7) and points (40) in his third full NHL season, and is still trying to round out his game and be more of a complete defenseman. A long-term injury and recovery would have been a major setback, but it appears that Power will be healthy well ahead of training camp in September.
