Tage Thompson Injury: What happened to Buffalo Sabres center? 

The Buffalo Sabres were dealt a tough blow when star center Tage Thompson exited Monday's game against the Montreal Canadiens with a lower-body injury. Thompson left in the first shift of the second period and did not return to the game, which the Sabres lost 7-5.

The Sabres announced on Friday that Thompson had been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. The Sabres called up prospect Jiri Kulich from their AHL affiliate in Rochester to take Thompson's roster spot for the time being.

Tage Thompson is currently the leading goal scorer for the Sabres with 11 goals and 18 points in 16 games played so far. Before getting injured, he had a streak of scoring goals by scoring one each game in his last four games.

As expected, Thompson did not play in the Sabres' 4-3 overtime win against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

Sabres HC Lindy Ruff talked about opportunities for other players in Thompson's absence.

“You have to find ways to win when some of your key personnel are out," Ruff said via NHL.com. "That is what your American League team is for, some of your young guys that are developing. It’s their opportunity to step in, maybe some of the guys with lower minutes."

Thompson will also miss Buffalo's matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. The earliest Thompson can potentially return from IR is for next Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Kings.

Fans react to Sabres placing Tage Thompson on IR

Fans quickly took to social media to react to the news of the Sabres placing Tage Thompson on IR.

Many expressed disappointment, with one fan posting on X/Twitter:

"He's only missing a few games they're putting him on IR to call up a forward for the next game."

Another fan wrote:

"People are stupid. It’s retroactive to Monday so he’ll be back for the next game after Philli."

Here are some more reactions from fans on X:

"Wait really? So is Tage out for a while??" one fan wrote.

"Here we go again. The Sabres day to day means weeks," another fan wrote.

"Let him rest for the Philly game so he’s good to go for the California trip," one fan commented.

"sit Tage a week. If he wasn't good enough to go 3rd period down 1 goal to a division rival, he should sit 3 days later as well. Can't be a season long nagging thing," a fan wrote.

Overall, Buffalo fans will be eager to have Tage Thompson back on the ice as soon as possible.