Joshua Norris and John Tavares both left Buffalo’s 5-4 overtime win over Toronto with injury concerns after a collision that changed the feel of the night for both teams.
The game had plenty else going on. Owen Power scored the winner, Jack Quinn piled up four points, Kirill Marchenko completed a hat trick, and Gavin McKenna logged limited ice time. But the biggest question afterward was the status of two important forwards who may be unavailable for some time, depending on what comes next from each club.
Toronto head coach Jim Hiller did not give an update on Tavares. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff, however, said Norris had entered concussion protocol, according to Mike Harrington of TBN.
The sequence came early in the third period during a Sabres offensive-zone shift. Norris was skating toward the far-side faceoff dot while Buffalo worked the puck around the perimeter and up to the point.
Nick Paul got tied up with Norris as he moved through the play. Tavares, focused on the puck, appeared not to see the contact developing nearby and went down hard.
Norris also hit the ice, but he got up far more easily than Tavares, who stayed down even after play stopped. Toronto’s assistant captain needed help leaving the ice.
Norris finished with 14:50 of ice time in a game that went an hour in real time, and he later exited after falling over Toronto defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson in overtime. Tavares played 11:47 and picked up two assists before he did not return after the collision.
For Norris, the concern fits an all-too-familiar pattern. His injury history reaches back to his Michigan days, and he has also dealt with a shoulder problem that lingered from 2022 to 2024 and led to season-ending surgery twice.
Last December, he suffered an upper-body injury while taking a faceoff late in Buffalo’s season opener and missed almost two months. Since Buffalo acquired him from Ottawa, he has appeared in only 54 games for the Sabres.
Even with the stop-start nature of his career, the 27-year-old has shown he can produce when he’s on the ice. He had a career-best 55 points in 66 games in 2021-22, which helped justify the $7.95MM annually over eight seasons Ottawa originally gave him.
Across eight NHL seasons, he has scored 105 goals and produced at a 0.67 point-per-game pace, though that span includes just 290 games. He has opened 2026-27 slowly, with two points in eight games.
Tavares has been far more steady for Toronto over the years. In six of his eight completed seasons with the Maple Leafs, he played at least 75 games, and he wore the captain’s “C” for five of those years.
The 36-year-old also dealt with a lower-body injury in January 2025 that came on another collision, this one with teammate Chris Tanev during practice, and it left him week to week. He arrived into this season in good form, with two goals and seven points through seven games in 2026-27.
In Other News...
Sabres Watched A Leafs Coaching Blunder Fuel Another Rival Collapse
The Maple Leafs latest stumble against Buffalo came with an unusual subplot, as rookie Gavin McKenna saw his ice time shrink in a game Toronto still had a chance to close out. Toronto had a two-goal lead heading into the third period before the Sabres pushed it to overtime and finished the comeback, leaving the Leafs to answer for how they handled the final stretch.
Jim Hiller said penalties played a role in McKennas limited minutes, but he also took responsibility for the way the bench was managed as the game tightened. For a young player trying to find his footing in a high-pressure division matchup, the night became less about what he could do and more about when Toronto decided to trust him again. [Read more 🡒]
Jason Zucker's Return Could Force A Sabres Lineup Squeeze
Jason Zucker is getting close to rejoining the Buffalo lineup after missing the start of the season because of offseason surgery, and his return is already creating a tricky conversation for the Sabres' forward group. The team has had enough moving parts up front that one established scorer coming back does not simply add offense, it forces a look at who has earned a spot, which lines have clicked, and how much continuity Lindy Ruff is willing to disturb.
The Sabres have also been getting useful work from several forwards in Zucker's absence, which only sharpens the question of how to fit him back in without upsetting the rhythm that has developed. Buffalo has options, but not many easy ones, and once Zucker is ready, the roster math becomes as important as the production on the ice. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Got An Unlikely Spark In A Comeback Fans Needed
With the Sabres shorthanded on defense, an unlikely source helped turn Thursday night into a much-needed lift. Dennis Gilbert stepped into the lineup because of injuries and scored in the third period as Buffalo rallied past Toronto 5-4, with Mattias Samuelsson also finding the net and Owen Power finishing the job in overtime.
The win stretched Buffalos point streak to three games and gave the club a little more breathing room while it waits for reinforcements. Lindy Ruff said Rasmus Dahlin could be close to returning, which would matter even more for a blue line that has been patched together lately, but for one night the Sabres found a way with help from a player who usually is not the headline. [Read more 🡒]