The Buffalo Sabres announced forward JJ Peterka left Saturday’s game against the New Jersey Devils with an upper-body injury and would not return.
Peterka suffered the injury in the first period. After making a pass to teammate Tage Thompson in the neutral zone, Devils’ defenseman Brendan Dillon laid a hit on Peterka, who fell to the ice and held his head.
Peterka recorded an assist in 19:22 of ice time in Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Devils. Buffalo and New Jersey are in Prague, Czechia for a pair of games to open the NHL’s 2024-25 regular season as part of the league’s Global Series.
Last season, Peterka scored 28 goals and 22 assists for 50 points with the Sabres in just his second full NHL season. Through 162 regular-season games, the Munich, Germany native has 40 goals and 43 assists for 83 points.
Taken in the second round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Peterka spent two seasons in Europe playing between Munich EHC in Germany’s top league and Salzburg of Austria’s top league.
Joining North America in 2021-22, he played 70 games with the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, scoring 28 goals and 40 assists for 68 points.
Last season, the Sabres went 39-37-6 for 84 points, finishing sixth in the Atlantic Division and seven points out of a playoff spot. Forward Alex Tuch and defenseman Rasmus Dahlin led the team in points with 59, while Thompson led the team in goals with 29.
Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had a solid 2023-24 campaign in the crease, going 27-22-4 with a .910 save percentage in 54 appearances.
