Buffalo Sabres Opponent Outlook: Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres faced off five times last season, and while the Panthers were neither great nor awful last season, the sample size against Buffalo tipped them to the higher end of the scale.

In the end, however, the Panthers finished the year seven points out of a playoff spot. They ended the year 38-29-15 with a minus-17 goal differential. The Panthers went 21-13-7 at home and 17-16-8 at home.

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They were involved in 18 shootouts last season, the most of any team in the league (compare that to Calgary, Minnesota or Dallas, involved in only seven!) and went 8-10 in those games.

The Panthers were one of the teams the Sabres saw the most last season, with five meetings between the two teams. Florida won four of those games, with Buffalo taking its lone win in overtime.

Two of Florida’s four wins were shutouts, with the Panthers overall outscoring the Sabres 14-9 and outshooting them by a 180-130 margin, including 47-14 in the final meeting of the season.

Sean Bergenheim scored the lone goal for the Panthers in their 1-0 win over Buffalo in the first meeting of the season. Jhonas Enroth had 34 saves for Buffalo, but the Sabres’ offense wasn’t able to put up enough of an effort. Roberto Luongo stopped all 26 shots faced to help finish things off and send Florida home with two points.

The next meeting of the season saw the Panthers grab a 3-2 win over the Sabres, thanks to a late goal by Nick Bjugstad. Bjugstad scored with just 17 seconds left in regulation to give Florida the victory.

Brad Boyes and Tomas Kopecky also scored for Florida, while Drew Stafford and Brian Gionta notched goals for Buffalo.

The third meeting of the season would see the Sabres notch a 4-3 win in overtime. Cody Hodgson, Marcus Foligno and Gionta scored for Sabres in regulation, while Panthers goals came from Bergenheim, Jimmy Hayes and Jussi Jokinen. Nikita Zadorov became the hero, just 29 seconds into overtime, giving Buffalo the win.

The next game between the two teams would once again see the Panthers shut out Buffalo, this time by a score of 2-0. Boyes and Bjugstad scored for Florida.

The final game was a 5-3 win for Florida, in a game in which they put up an outstanding 47 shots on goal to Buffalo’s 14.

Hodgson, Andrej Meszaros and Torrey Mitchell scored for the Sabres. Brandon Pirri scored twice for Florida, while Bjugstad and Scottie Upshall also scored. Drew Mackenzie added an empty-netter with 17 seconds left to seal the win. Neuvirth had 41 saves.

The Panthers made one trade in the offseason, sending the rights to Zach Hyman and a conditional 2017 7th-rounder to Toronto in exchange for forward Greg McKegg. McKegg then became a free agent and re-signed with Florida.

Shane O’Brien signed with Anaheim, while Jimmy Hayes re-signed with Boston after being traded there. Goaltender Dan Ellis is also a missing piece for the Panthers, gone now to Washington. Rob Flick, Gameron Gaunce, Brent Regner, and goaltender Mike McKenna all signed elsewhere.

Meanwhile, John McFarland, Quinton Howden, Alex Petrovic, Garret Wilson, Corban Knight re-signed with the Panthers organization this offseason.

The Panthers and Sabres meet a total of four times this season, beginning just a week into the season on October 15th as the teams meet in Sunrise. They’ll face off almost a month later, on November 12, also in Florida – both 7:30 p.m. games. The next two meetings, both Tuesday 7 p.m. starts, come on January 5 and February 9, both at First Niagara Center.

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