Buffalo Sabres Faceoff Against Jaromir Jagr/Florida Panthers

It is getting close. The Buffalo Sabres have begun to play well, eking out a point here and there in overtimes and shootouts and now they are on to the full blown wins during regulation and even a major win against a team that is headed towards the playoffs this season; Vancouver – 6-3.

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The lead with the race fro 30th grows ever so small, the Buffalo Sabres are now have a 3 point lead on the Edmonton Oilers and a 4 point lead on the Arizona Coyotes. Both Edmonton and Arizona play tonight. Arizona is playing a struggling Boston team, which could be good. Edmonton gets to face off against the St. Louis Blues.

The Buffalo Sabres do get to face Arizona twice at the end of March, within a 5 day time frame with will play once here and once in Arizona. Could be what makes or breaks the race for 30 at this point.

As for the game at hand. Today’s game is a 3:00 PM start. This is also the 5th of 5 meetings between the Buffalo Sabres and the Florida Panthers. Out of the 4 previous games the Buffalo Sabres have not fared well only taking 2 points out of 8, which was a win in overtime.

Line-up changes seems to be the phrase that Ted Nolan is having to use again tonight. Tyler Ennis did not skate yesterday after the Vancouver win, so it does not look like he will be available for tonight’s game. Tyson Strachan, who is recovering from an infection and has been out for the past couple of games did skate yesterday. Both Tyler Ennis and Tyson Strachan made the trip to Florida, but are still questionable as to their playing status. I would predict that Ennis is out again, but Strachan might be a player in tonight’s game.

Nikita Zadorov has been out the past three games as a healthy scratch. He has been serving a team suspension for being late to another team function, his second in a short time period. With the Buffalo Sabres announcing that Mark Pysyk has been sent back to Rochester, it looks as though that Nikita Zadorov will be set to come back and play the blue line for the Sabres.

As for the net, Ted Nolan has stated that he is going to ride the hot horse that is Michal Neuvirth, so expect to see Neuvirth in net again to night. But I would not be surprised to see a sighting of Anders Lindback between the pipes today either.

The Florida Panthers will have a new look in tonight’s game. They have just recently made a trade to acquire future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr from the New Jersey Devils and who is set to make his debut for the Panthers. The Panthers are looking for 43 year old Jagr to supply them with a little more offensive prowess as they are 4 points back from 8th place and are making a bid for the Playoffs.

I think that the Buffalo Sabres will continue to ride this hot streak they are on and out work the Florida Panthers as they did the Vancouver Canucks. It looks as though the early matinee showing of the game will equal a win, in regulation for the Buffalo Sabres. Jagr will provide little help in his debut, Buffalo wins 3-1 with an empty netter to seal the deal.

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