Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato said star forward Tage Thompson will likely miss "significant time" after exiting Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins with an upper-body injury, according to the Buffalo News' Lance Lysowski.

Thompson sustained the ailment after taking a shot to his hand during the second frame with the Sabres on the penalty kill. Soon after, he headed down the tunnel and was ultimately ruled out for the remainder of the game.

It was a tough night for Thompson, who also exited the game early in the first period after getting tangled up with Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy in Boston's zone.

Thompson was slow to get to his feet and struggled to get to the bench. There was no penalty called on the play.

The Sabres initially announced that he was questionable to return to the contest with a lower-body injury as a result of the collision, but he rejoined the team at the start of the second period.

Granato revealed that Thompson suffered a cut as a result of his run-in with McAvoy.

"Fought through the first injury," the bench boss said. "Couldn't fight through the second one."

Prior to Tuesday's contest, Thompson ranked second on the Sabres with six goals and 12 points in 15 outings. He registered one shot in 5:38 minutes of ice time against Boston.

Thompson, 26, took the league by storm last season after erupting for 47 goals and 47 helpers in 78 games. He's currently playing out the first season of a seven-year extension with a cap hit of $7.143 million.

Without Thompson in the picture, Granato acknowledged that the responsibility lies on Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt to step up.

"They're going to have to," he said, per The Athletic's Matthew Fairburn. "I think those are two guys that have a track record of responding to adversity and challenge and this is a much greater challenge now presented to them and to us as a group."

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