"Changes are coming for the Buffalo Sabres. They have to replace one of their most relied-upon forwards, a power-play specialist and a penalty-kill stalwart. That's all because Jason Pominville is out.

No player is irreplaceable, but the Sabres have three important holes to fill with the absence of their ironman. The concussed Pominville, whose streak of 336 straight games will end Wednesday night when New Jersey visits HSBC Arena, performs nearly every role for the Sabres.

"He's always been involved as one of our key personnel," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said Tuesday. "We had him penciled in to quarterback the power play and run the one unit. He's been a very good penalty-killer for us, played the role of the last-minute guy a lot for us, too.

"We've got other guys that will have to step up. Obviously, [Drew] Stafford's off to a good start, and he'll have to assume some of that role. Pat Kaleta's going to assume a part of that role. In one person's absence, it's another person's opportunity."

Opportunities abound. Pominville was second among forwards in overall ice time last season, skating 18:44 per game. The right winger tied for tops in power-play time (3:43) and was third in penalty kill (1:44) and at even strength (13:17) while skating on one of the top two scoring lines.

That's a lot of important minutes that need to be assigned to other forwards.

"It's a tough break," left wing Jochen Hecht said. "He's one of the top players on the team, getting used in every situation, and he's a dependable player. He had a good stretch going for him before this happened, and you hate to see something like this, but that's a chance for other guys to step up."

Nathan Gerbe will be one recipient of ice time, moving from healthy scratch in two of the first three games to left wing alongside veterans Rob Niedermayer and Mike Grier. Gerbe scored three times during preseason, twice on the power play, and he will join the second man-advantage unit.

The Sabres' struggling power play, based on Tuesday's practice, will undergo multiple changes. Pominville's spot on the blue line for the first unit will be taken by center Tim Connolly, who will line up alongside Tyler Myers with Stafford, Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy up front. Gerbe will take Connolly's spot on the second power play, skating up front with Tyler Ennis and another new edition in Hecht. Jordan Leopold and Andrej Sekera will continue to patrol the back end."