BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Vegas Golden Knights sent home starting goalie Robin Lehner to further evaluate a lower-body injury.
Coach Pete DeBoer announced the decision on Thursday, with the Golden Knights preparing to play the Buffalo Sabres – Lehner's former team – in the second stop of a four-game road trip. DeBoer didn’t provide details on the injury except to say it’s not related to the upper-body injury that led to Lehner missing five games late last month.
Lehner is 2-2 since his return and was coming off a 19-save outing in a 2-1 loss at Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Lehner, a native of Gothenburg, Sweden, has appeared in 38 games this season for the Knights, posting a 21-15-1 record with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage after Vegas traded Marc-Andre Fleury to Chicago in a salary dump in the offseason.
The injury is the latest for the Golden Knights, who sit third in the Pacific Division standings and are in a tightly contested playoff race. The team has five players on injured reserve, including captain Mark Stone and defenseman Alex Martinez.
Laurent Brossoit, who has a 10-6-3 record, is scheduled to start against Buffalo, while Vegas called up Logan Thompson from the minors.
DeBoer said forward Reilly Smith would not play against Buffalo.
