At the Rink: Panthers at Sabres

BUFFALO -- The Buffalo Sabres are seeking their fifth consecutive win but will have to beat a Florida Panthers team on Saturday that they haven’t had much success against recently to do it.

The Sabres have lost five consecutive to the Panthers and four straight at First Niagara Center. The Sabres dropped a 3-2 decision to the Panthers Dec. 6 in Sunrise.

“Last game we put a ton of shots on net and had really good chances,” Sabres forward Cody Hodgson said. “Either [Roberto Luongo or Al Montoya] will be a challenge tonight. Hopefully we get a lot of puck on the net and keep the offense rolling.”

Hodgson will re-enter the Sabres lineup after he was a healthy scratch against the Calgary Flames on Thursday. He takes the place of Cody McCormick who is out with a lower-body injury. Hodgson skated on a line with Chris Stewart and Patrick Kaleta at practice on Friday.

“We’ve got the [Zemgus] Girgensons line going now and we’ve got the [Torrey] Mitchell line going,” Sabres coach Ted Nolan said. “We’re just kind of finding those mixtures there. If we get [Drew] Stafford continuing to play, we’ll get that mixture going. You never know what will get Cody going from within.”

The Panthers are coming off a 3-2 shootout win against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday. Luongo made 29 saves and stopped both shots he faced in the shootout. Whether the Sabres face Luongo or Montoya doesn’t matter to them as long as they get the win.

“We’ve got to find a way,” Sabres forward Marcus Foligno said. “Tonight’s a big night. I think a lot of guys are ticked off about [losing to Florida]. We can’t lose games to the Florida Panthers. That’s a team we need to chase, we’re obviously trying to chase them, they’re in the eighth spot [in the Eastern Conference] right now. They’re playing good hockey and we’ve got to outwork them tonight.”

The Panthers have won five of the past eight games.

Defenseman Andrej Meszaros will return to the lineup after he sustained a concussion against the Montreal Canadiens Nov. 28. Defenseman Mike Weber is out with a knee injury. Goalie Jhonas Enroth will make his third consecutive start.

The Panthers did not hold a morning skate. Forwards Aleksander Barkov and Scottie Upshall, both on injured reserve, and defenseman Shane O’Brien skated on Saturday. O’Brien was recalled from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Thursday and was a healthy scratch on Friday.

Here are the projected lines:

PANTHERS

Jonathan Huberdeau – Nick Bjugstad – Tomas Fleischmann

Sean Bergenheim – Dave Bolland – Brad Boyes

Jussi Jokinen – Vincent Trocheck – Jimmy Hayes

Tomas Kopecky – Derek MacKenzie – Brandon Pirri

Brian Campbell – Aaron Ekblad

Willie Mitchell – Dmitry Kulikov

Dylan Olsen – Erik Gudbranson

Al Montoya

Roberto Luongo

Scratched: Shawn Thornton, Shane O'Brien

Injured: Scottie Upshall (lower-body – IR), Aleksander Barkov (hand – IR)

SABRES

Matt Moulson – Zemgus Girgensons – Tyler Ennis

Brian Flynn – Torrey Mitchell – Brian Gionta

Nicolas Deslauriers – Marcus Foligno – Drew Stafford

Chris Stewart – Cody Hodgson – Patrick Kaleta

Josh Gorges – Tyler Myers

Nikita Zadorov – Rasmus Ristolainen

Andre Benoit – Andrej Meszaros

Jhonas Enroth

Michal Neuvirth

Injured: Cody McCormick (lower-body), Tyson Strachan (lower-body), Mike Weber (knee)

Status Report: Tyson Strachan skated on Saturday with the team for the first time since he sustained a lower-body injury against the Tampa Bay Lightning Dec. 4.

Who’s Hot: Fleischmann has a four-game point streak for the Panthers with two goals and three assists during that run … Ennis had three assists and Moulson had two goals on Thursday against the Calgary Flames. Enroth has won two consecutive starts and has stopped 76 out of 79 shots combined in them.