"The Buffalo Sabres got savaged in the North American media and on the Internet on Sunday for not responding to Milan Lucic's bulldozing of Ryan Miller on Saturday night in Boston. They apparently heard about it in strong terms as well from coach Lindy Ruff and General Manager Darcy Regier during a meeting Sunday in the Bell Centre.

And things took on a much more ominous tone later in the evening, when Regier told The Buffalo News that Miller has a concussion and will be out an undetermined period.

Regier is adamant Lucic should be suspended for the hit. Lucic will have a hearing today at 1 p.m. to discuss the first-period play in which Miller was knocked to the ice and his helmet was knocked off.

"If this hit and other types of hits like this are not suspended, we are opening up the possibility of losing goaltenders to injury. And not just injury, but concussion," Regier said. "... When I look at the position of goaltending, in a lot of ways it's not unlike quarterback in football. I feel very strongly the protection has to be provided and players committing these types of action should be punished."

Any concussion is serious, given the increased emphasis on their diagnosis and treatment by the NFL and NHL. But Miller's is of particular concern because it's his second in eight months, as he missed time in March when struck in the head by a shot from New Jersey's Brian Rolston.

A 31-year-old goaltender with two concussions in a short period of time is suddenly quite a bit more of a risk, and Miller's health and dependability have never been so uncertain during his NHL career.

Jhonas Enroth will thus start tonight's game against the Montreal Canadiens and assume the No. 1 role for the foreseeable future. Drew MacIntyre was called up from Rochester on Sunday night and will be the backup.

After the collision with Lucic, Miller continued to play and, in fact, played the entire second period of the eventual 6-2 loss.

"What happened was that he gradually got worse until he was removed from the game and diagnosed by the Boston doctors," Regier said. "I'm not in position to disagree with the doctors or the league protocol. He's better today but still, hopefully it is not severe and hopefully it is not long-term."