The stingy Florida Panthers (50-24-6) will look to build on back-to-back blankings over the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets when they face the Buffalo Sabres (38-37-5) for the final time this season tonight at Amerant Bank Arena. Florida got goals from four different players (Matthew Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart and Vladimir Tarasenko) and Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves to match Arizona’s Connor Ingram and Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry with a league-leading six shutouts in a 4-0 victory over the Blue Jackets on Tuesday. The Panthers just need to earn one more point to clinch home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. A loss of any type by Toronto would also do the trick.
While they are no longer even on the periphery of the playoff picture, the Sabres played the spoiler role by beating the Washington Capitals 4-2 on home ice on Thursday. After playing the Panthers, Buffalo will close out the regular season against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. Alex Tuch leads the club in scoring with 59 points. The Sabres haven’t been to the postseason since 2011-12 season, when they lost to Philadelphia in the opening round.
- WHEN: 5:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, MSG-B
- ON THE DIAL: Radio Libre 790 (D/B), 1230 The Gambler (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #LetsGoBuffalo, #BUFvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Die By The Blade
- FLA IN SEASON SERIES: Game 3 of 3 (2-0)
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 3, BUF 2 (Recap) – 2/27/2024
- NEXT MEETING: 2024-25 regular season
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (35-17-4 .914 / 2.38 6SO) Buffalo: Luukkonen (27-22-3 .910 / 2.56 5SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Buffalo
Saturday in the Atlantic (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- TAMPA BAY (44-27-8 96P) at Washington (37-3111 85P) 5:30 p.m.
- MONTREAL (30-36-13 73P) at OTTAWA (35-40-5 75P) 7 p.m.
- DETROIT (38-32-9 85P) at TORONTO (46-24-9 101P) 7 p.m.
- BOSTON (46-18-15 107P) at Pittsburgh (37-30-12 86P) 8 p.m. (ABC, ESPN+)