Panthers head into battle in Buffalo expecting to face desperate Sabres without Sasha Barkov

David Dwork

Oct 12, 2024, 11:00

David Dwork

Oct 12, 2024, 11:00

Buffalo has lost all three of their games, failing to score more than a goal in any of them

The Florida Panthers are in the midst of their first road trip of the season and they’re already navigating an injury to a key player.

Panthers captain Sasha Barkov suffered an apparent lower-body injury during Florida’s loss in Ottawa on Thursday night.

While there has been no official word on the severity of the injury, Florida made a couple roster moves on Friday that would indicate Barkov won’t be in the lineup at least on Saturday, when the Cats face the Buffalo Sabres.

Added to the roster was training camp standout Patrick Giles.

He came close to earning an NHL job after a solid showing during the preseason, so it’s no surprise that he’s the first man called back up to the big club.

Florida will face a Sabres squad still looking for their first win of the season despite already having played three games.

Buffalo opened the season with a pair of losses to the New Jersey Devils in Prague last week before dropping their home opener to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

Through three games, the Sabres have scored all of three goals.

They’ll look to get the offensive game going against a Florida group playing without one of the best defensive centers in the world.