Buffalo Sabres - Florida Panthers Game Preview
10/18/25 - 1:00pm at KeyBank Center, in Buffalo, NY
Buffalo – 1-3-0 | - 2 points – 8th place in the Atlantic Division
Florida – 3-3-0 | - 6 points – 5th place in the Atlantic Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 21.4% (15th)
Penalty Kill – 93.8% (3rd)
Florida
Power Play – 25.% (T-6th)
Penalty Kill - 90.0% (T-8th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Zach Benson: 3 GP, 0 G, 4 A, 4 PTS
Jason Zucker: 4 GP, 3 G, 0 A, 3 PTS
Tage Thompson: 4 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 3 PTS
Florida
Brad Marchand: 6 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 6 PTS
Anton Lundell: 6 GP, 2 G, 3 A, 5 PTS
Evan Rodrigues: 6 GP, 2 G, 2 A, 4 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Alex Lyon (1-3-0, 3.05 GAA, .912 save %)
Florida – Sergei Bobrovsky (3-1-0, 1.77 GAA, .922 save %)
Other Sabres Stories
Sabres Line Combinations and Pairings (based on Friday’s practice lines)
Forwards
Zach Benson - Jiri Kulich - Tage Thompson
Josh Doan - Ryan McLeod - Alex Tuch
Jason Zucker - Peyton Krebs - Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn - Tyson Kozak - Josh Dunne
Ex. Mason Geersten
Defense
Bowen Byram - Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power - Conor Timmins,
Mattias Samuelsson - Jacob Bryson
Ex. Zach Metsa
Goaltenders
Alex Lyon
Colten Ellis
Injuries
Jordan Greenway (IR – mid body)
Michael Kesselring (IR - undisclosed)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (IR - lower body)
Josh Norris (IR - upper body)
Notes
Zach Benson registered four assists in his first game of the season on Oct. 15 vs. Ottawa. If he records an assist tonight, he would join Pat LaFontaine (1992-93) as the only players in Sabres history to record five or more assists in their first two games of a season.
Jason Zucker is riding a three-game point streak (1+2) against the Panthers, having recorded one point in each game he has appeared in against Florida as a member of the Sabres. A point in tonight’s game would make Zucker the first Sabres forward since Sam Reinhart from Feb. 1, 2018 to Feb. 19, 2019 (seven games; 4+6) to register a point streak of four or more games against the Panthers.
In his last six games against Florida, Rasmus Dahlin has posted six points (2+4), including a two-point showing (1+1) in Buffalo’s most recent contest against the Panthers. An assist in tonight’s game would give Dahlin a three-game assist streak. It would mark the 30th assist streak of three or more games of his career.
Alex Tuch has six points (3+3) in his last six home matchups against Florida. Tuch has tallied three points (1+2) in his last two games and a point in tonight’s game would give him a three-game point streak.
Tage Thompson has registered one point in back-to-back home games against the Panthers (1+1) and a point tonight would give him a three-game point streak.
Alex Lyon has made 101 saves on 109 shots (.927) in his last three games against Florida. Lyon has made at least 32 saves in each of his four career starts against the Panthers. If Lyon makes 32 or more saves tonight, he will become the second goaltender in NHL history to register at least that many saves in each of their first five career starts against Florida (Casey DeSmith; Feb. 7, 2019 to Oct. 21, 2023).
Jack Quinn needs one point to reach 100 points in his NHL career
Follow Michael on X, Instagram @MikeInBuffalo