Buffalo Sabres – Florida Panthers
3/8/25 – 6pm EST at Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, FL
Record
Buffalo – 24-31-6 | 54 points – 8th place in the Atlantic Division
Florida – 39-21-3 | 81 points – 1st place in the Atlantic Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 17.0% (27th)
Penalty Kill – 76.8% (21st)
Florida
Power Play – 23.4% (13th)
Penalty Kill – 80.8% (12th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 55 GP, 31 G, 23 A, 54 PTS
Rasmus Dahlin: 53 GP, 11 G, 40 A, 51 PTS
JJ Peterka: 59 GP, 19 G, 32 A, 51 PTS
Florida
Sam Reinhart: 63 GP, 32 G, 35 A, 67 PTS
Aleksander Barkov: 53 GP, 17 G, 42 A, 59 PTS
Matthew Tkachuk: 52 GP, 22 G, 35 A, 57 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (20-19-4, 3.14 GAA, .890 save %)
Florida – Vitek Vanecek (3-10-3, 3.88 GAA, .882 save %)
Line Combinations and Pairings
Forwards
JJ Peterka - Ryan McLeod – Tage Thompson
Jordan Greenway – Josh Norris - Alex Tuch
Zach Benson – Jiri Kulich - Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn – Peyton Krebs - Sam Lafferty
Ex. Isak Rosen, Josh Dunne
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin - Bowen Byram
Mattias Samuelsson - Owen Power
Dennis Gilbert - Connor Clifton
Ex. - Jacob Bryson,
Goaltenders
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
James Reimer
Injuries
Jason Zucker (day-to-day – lower body)
Notes
Alex Tuch has collected 13 points (8+5) in his last 11 games, including eight goals in his last nine games. Tuch is riding a five-game road goal streak and a goal in tonight’s game would make him the first Sabres skater since Jason Pominville from Oct. 21 to Nov. 13, 2006 (seven games; 7+1) to register a road goal streak of six or more games.
Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 27 assists in his last 27 games and he has registered 20 points (5+15) in his last 16 games, including at least one point in four straight games (2+3). Dahlin’s 27 assists ranks tied for third among all NHL skaters in that span. Dahlin has registered one point in four consecutive games (1+3) against the Panthers. With a point tonight, Dahlin would join Doug Bodger (Jan. 30, 1994 to March 24, 1995; 0+5) and Tyler Myers (March 20, 2010 to Feb. 10, 2011; 1+7) as the only defensemen in franchise history to register a point streak of five or more games against Florida.
JJ Peterka has tallied 19 points (9+10) in his last 15 games and he is riding a seven-game point streak (4+6), the longest such streak of his career. Peterka would match the longest point streak by a Sabres skater this season (Tage Thompson; eight games; Oct. 12 to Nov. 1; 6+6) with a point in tonight’s game.
Tage Thompson has posted 29 points (15+14) in his last 26 games, including 14 points (9+5) in his last 11. Thompson has recorded one goal in three consecutive games he would match the longest goal streak of his career (twice) with a goal in tonight’s game. In his last seven games against the Panthers, Thompson has registered seven points (2+5).Owen Power has notched one assist in each of his last two road contests against Florida
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