Sabres’ Sam Lafferty leaves Friday’s game vs. Canucks with lower-body injury

Buffalo Sabres’ forward Sam Lafferty left Friday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks with a lower-body injury, with the team announcing he would not return.

It’s not clear when the injury occurred, but at some point Lafferty left the Sabres’ bench and did not rejoin his teammates.

The Canucks won Friday’s game 4-3 in overtime. Sabres’ forward Bowen Byram scored his fourth goal in the season in the first period, while Dylan Cozens scored his fifth and sixth goal of the year late in the third period to force the game to go to overtime.

The 29-year-old center has one goal in 21 games with the Sabres this season. Through six NHL seasons, Lafferty has 37 goals and 47 assists for 84 points in 310 career games with the Sabres, Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Lafferty had one full season in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2018-19, recording 13 goals and 36 assists for 49 points and 94 penalty minutes in 70 regular-season games.

The Hollidaysburg, Pa., native was taken in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by the Penguins.

Going into Friday’s game, the Sabres were 11-10-1 with 23 points through 22 games, fifth in the Atlantic Division and two points shy of a Wild Card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo is 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.

Forward Alex Tuch leads the team with 14 assists and 21 points, while forward Tage Thompson has a team-leading 11 goals. Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, has six goals and 13 assists for 19 points.

Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen leads the way with an 8-5-1 record, a .914 save percentage and 2.45 goals against average.