Buffalo Sabres – Florida Panthers Game Preview
Buffalo hoping to win their fourth game in a row for the first time this season
Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports - Buffalo Sabres – Florida Panthers Game Preview2/27/24 – 7:00 pm EST at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, FL
Record
Buffalo – 27-27-4 | 58 points – 6th place in Atlantic Division
Florida – 38-16-4 | 80 points – 2nd place in Atlantic Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 15.0% (27th)
Penalty Kill – 79.7% (15th)
Florida
Power Play – 25.7% (5th)
Penalty Kill – 82.6% (7th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Casey Mittelstadt: 58 GP, 13 G, 31 A, 44 PTS
Rasmus Dahlin: 57 GP, 14 G, 29 A, 43 PTS
Alex Tuch: 51 GP, 16 G, 22 A, 38 PTS
Florida
Sam Reinhart: 58 GP, 39 G, 28 A, 67 PTS
Matthew Tkachuk: 57 GP, 20 G, 45 A, 65 PTS
Carter Verhaeghe: 58 GP, 30 G, 30 A, 60 PTS
Starting Goalies
Buffalo – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (17-14-2, 2.45 GAA, .913 save %)
Florida – Sergei Bobrovsky (28-11-2, 2.36 GAA, .916 save %)
Line Combinations and Pairings
Buffalo
Forwards (from Monday’s practice)
Victor Olofsson-Tage Thompson- Alex Tuch
Jordan Greenway-Casey Mittelstadt-Dylan Cozens
Zach Benson-Peyton Krebs-JJ Peterka
Eric Robinson-Zemgus Girgenson-Kyle Okposo
Ex. Tyson Jost
Defense
Rasmus Dahlin(maintenance)-Henri Jokiharju
Owen Power-Erik Johnson
Jacob Bryson-Connor Clifton
Kale Clague-Ryan Johnson
Goaltenders
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Eric Comrie
Injuries
Jack Quinn (IR – lower body)
Jeff Skinner (unknown)
Notes
The Sabres are riding a five-game road winning streak and a win in tonight’s game would give them their longest road winning streak since they earned a franchise-record 10 consecutive road wins from Oct. 4 to Nov. 13, 2006. A win tonight would move the Sabres into a tie for the fourth-longest road winning streak in franchise history (Dec. 8 to 29, 1986; six games). Buffalo’s current five-game road winning streak is tied for the longest active road winning streak in the NHL.
In Buffalo’s last 16 games, UkkoPekka Luukkonen has made 14 starts and has recorded 346 saves on 370 shots (.935) in that span. Among NHL goaltenders with at least 20 games played in 2023-24, Luukkonen ranks sixth in goals-against average (2.45). Luukkonen has allowed two or fewer goals in 11 of his last 14 starts.
Rasmus Dahlin has skated 29 or minutes in each of Buffalo’s last six games and is the only Sabres skater to do so since the league began tracking time on ice in 1997-98. If he skates 29 or more minutes in tonight’s game, he will become the seventh NHL skater, and the first since Erik Karlsson from Feb. 25, 2016, to March 8, 2016, to do so in seven or more games. Dahlin is currently tied with Jerry Korab (216) for fifth all-time among all Sabres defensemen in assists and he needs one assist to gain sole possession of fifth place on Buffalo’s all-time list.
Dylan Cozens has 13 points (4+9) in his last 13 games, including five points in his last five games (1+4).
Kyle Okposo has registered one assist in back-to-back games and an assist in tonight’s game would give him his first assist streak of three or more games since he notched an assist in four consecutive games from Nov. 27 to Dec. 4, 2021.
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