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Injury-plagued Sabres host Flyers

Feb 20, 2007 - 3:23 PM Philadelphia (16-34-8) at Buffalo (39-15-5) 7:00 pm EST

BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- The Buffalo Sabres are the top club in the NHL, but they will have to battle through injuries to stay there.

The Sabres host the last-place Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.

Buffalo learned on Monday that Ales Kotalik will be sidelined four to six weeks with a right knee injury. The right wing was injured in Saturday's 4-3 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins.

Right wing Maxim Afinogenov, the team's second-leading scorer, broke his left hand, and center Jiri Novotny injured his ankle in last Thursday's overtime win against Edmonton. Afinogenov is out six weeks, while it is unclear how long Novotny will be sidelined.

Center Paul Gaustad (torn tendon) is out for the season, and defenseman Jaroslav Spacek is sidelined with a broken left hand.

Buffalo is 4-0-1 in its last five. Daniel Briere had a goal and an assist in the loss to Boston. The All-Star Game Most Valuable Player has goals in three straight games.

Briere, who leads Buffalo with 71 points, has a pair of goals and two assists in two contests against Philadelphia this season. He scored twice in a 5-4 overtime against the Flyers on November 11.

Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek each scored twice in Buffalo's 9-1 win over Philadelphia on October 17. Vanek has two goals and three assists in five games against Philadelphia this season.

Philadelphia is 3-2-0 in its last five games after a 6-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Monday. Kyle Calder and Jeff Carter each had a goal and two assists. Calder has just nine goals in 56 games after notching 26 in 79 contests last season.