Heading into the season opener, Robin Lehner acknowledged he was the biggest question mark for the Sabres. If goaltending was a question mark with Lehner, it’s now a question mark with an exclamation point.
As in, Chad Johnson?!
The journeyman backup is suddenly Buffalo’s No. 1 goaltender after Lehner suffered a lower-body sprain Thursday. It’s a position Johnson hasn’t held since playing for the minor-league Connecticut Whale in 2011-12.
The 29-year-old will make his first start for the Sabres on Saturday afternoon against Tampa Bay.
“I’ve for the most part been sort of a second guy,” Johnson said Friday in First Niagara Center.