"Every game here is the biggest game of the year," Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. "It's almost that playoff mentality. It's do-or-die for us, no doubt. We're excited for it."
Shaking off a four-game losing streak, the Panthers have won each of their last three games to claw their way back into the playoff hunt. After earning massive wins in Toronto and Montreal, they closed out their road trip with a 7-0 drubbing of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
Carter Verhaeghe matched a franchise record with four goals against the Blue Jackets. In the process, the speedy sniper also became just the second player in the franchise's 29-year history to score at least 40 goals in a season, joining none other than Hall of Famer Pavel Bure.
Sam Reinhart, Eric Staal and Nick Cousins also lit the lamp in Columbus, while Aleksander Barkov and Anthony Duclair each handed out three assists. Making his third straight start, Alex Lyon stopped all 21 shots he faced for the first shutout of his NHL career.
Two points shy of matching the career-high 104 he racked up in 2021-22, Matthew Tkachuk leads the Panthers and ranks fifth in the NHL in scoring with 102 points (38 goals, 64 assists). In second, Barkov has logged 71 points (20 goals, 51 assists).
With Sergei Bobrovsky still recovering from a non-COVID illness, Lyon will man the crease against the Sabres for his fourth straight start. Over his three previous outings, the 30-year-old veteran goaltender has turned aside 77 of 81 shots for a sparkling .951 save percentage.
Working his way back, Bobrovsky skated this morning and, if he's feeling well enough to play, will serve as Lyon's backup against Buffalo, according to Panthers head coach Paul Maurice.
In other injury news, Maurice said that Sam Bennett, who has been out since March 20 with an undisclosed injury, returned to the ice this morning. If he's able to join practice this week, there's a chance the hard-nosed forward could be back in the lineup this weekend.
"That'll be the tell that things are moving forward, if you see him out there with the big group" Maurice said of Bennett, who's produced 40 points (16 goals, 24 assists) in 63 games this season. "If not, then things have leveled or stayed where they are."
Still very much in the playoff picture at 37-31-7, the Sabres, who trail the Panthers by four points with two games in hand, have won four of their last five games, including a 6-3 win at Philadelphia in their last outing on Saturday.
Tied 1-1 after 20 minutes against the Flyers, the Sabres scored four goals in the second period to pull away. Named the first star of the game, Alex Tuch scored three goals for Buffalo. In net for the Sabres, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 39 of 42 shots to earn his second straight victory.
After sitting out the last three games with an upper-body injury, Tage Thompson returned to practice on Monday and could be back in the lineup for the Sabres in Sunrise. Breaking out in a big way in 2022-23, the towering 6-foot-6 forward leads Buffalo in goals (44) and points (89).
In is return to practice, Thompson was back in his usual spot between Jeff Skinner and Tuch, according to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. A lethal trio on offense, Skinner and Tuch have also scored 30-plus goals. Tuch has notched 35 and Skinner has accumulated 33.
In three games against Florida this season, Tuch and Skinner have combined for five goals.
"They've got some range on that line," Maurice said. "A really unusual line that has over 100 goals. With two of them, they don't have to beat you one-on-one, they can get away from you one-on-one. They can get to open ice because they can carry the puck eight feet away from their bodies because they're so lanky. That just opens everybody else up."
Set to face a familiar face between the pipes, Devon Levi could get the not in net for Buffalo. A seventh-round draft pick of the Panthers in 2020, the 21-year-old goaltender was traded to the Sabres as part of a package that brought Sam Reinhart to South Florida in the summer of 2021.
Looking like a win-win trade for both teams, Reinhart ranks second on the Panthers in goals (62) and points (144) since the start of the 2021-22 campaign, while Levi, who signed his three-year, entry-level contract last week, has been touted as one of the top goalie prospects in the league.
In NHL debut on March 31, Levi made 31 saves in a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers.
Facing off for the fourth and final time, the Panthers have taken two of three games from the Sabres thus far. After the Panthers picked up two wins on the road at KeyBank Center earlier this season, the Sabres responded with a 3-1 win in their last meeting on Feb. 24 at FLA Live Arena.
Overall, Florida has won six of its previous seven matchups against Buffalo.
"I think this is a playoff game for both teams," Maurice said. "I don't think they feel necessarily any different than we do. They look at the schedule and say, 'We've got to run the table to get in.' The Islanders, Pittsburgh and ourselves all feel the same way. You can't play more than one game a time, but you know you're not going 1-4 or 1-5 and getting into the playoffs."
