Buffalo Sabres Prepare for Tough Test vs. Florida Panthers

The Buffalo Sabres, coming off their first win, head into a pair of games in the Sunshine State as they kick things off with a match against the Florida Panthers Thursday evening.

The Sabres head into tonight’s game coming off the heels of a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.

Jack Eichel scored his team-leading second goal of the season on an absolutely beautiful move that can only be described with the words “You’ve got to see this.”

Ryan O’Reilly also notched his first goal as a member of the Buffalo Sabres, with Rasmus Ristolainen and Matt Moulson notching their firsts of the year. Moulson had a three-point game with one goal and two assists.

Chad Johnson stopped 22 of 24 shots faced in net, rising to the challenge of becoming the Buffalo Sabres’ top goaltender since Robin Lehner‘s injury. It’s likely that he’ll start again Thursday night, with Nathan Lieuwen still on recall from the AHL’s Rochester Americans.

The Panthers, meanwhile, are 2-1-0 to start the season, with a remarkable +8 goal differential – second-best in the league (San Jose, +11).

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Panthers center Vincent Trocheck leads the team with four points this season, including a team-high three assists (a number that Brandon Pirri has matched). Reilly Smith, Jussi Jokinen, Jaromir Jagr, Aleksander Barkov and Pirri each have three points on the season. Barkov leads the team in shots, with 10 — Cody Franson and Tyler Ennis each have 10 shots for the Buffalo Sabres.

Of course, Aaron Ekblad is always a big name that comes up when facing the Panthers, and he’ll be another force to reckon with this evening.

For the Panthers, it’ll either be Al Montoya or Roberto Luongo in net tonight against the Sabres. Luongo has appeared in two games this season, Montoya in one.

The Panthers are coming off a 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, so both teams are looking to build off wins and continue on with a strong effort.

Heading into tonight’s game, the Sabres are still contending with some injuries. Zach Bogosian, Brian Gionta and Bobby Sanguinetti have each missed all three games with lower-body injuries. Cody McCormick is still out with blood clot issues and hasn’t been cleared. And of course, there’s Lehner, on IR with a high ankle sprain.

Nonetheless, there’s still some key players to watch tonight for the Buffalo Sabres. Of course, the name many will point to is Eichel, but there are others, too. David Legwand has registered nine points (4-5) in nine career road games against Florida.

O’Reilly has nine points in his last six games against the Panthers, while Evander Kane has five points in his last three games against them. Gionta leads all Sabres with 30 points (20-10) in 43 career games against the Panthers.

After a trio of home games at First Niagara Center to begin the season, the Sabres head out on their first road trip for the first of four meetings with the Florida Panther this season. The Sabres are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Panthers and 4-4-2 on the road.

Tonight’s Buffalo Sabres puck drop is set for 7:30 pm, so tune into your TVs, radios and the like then (or earlier, if you enjoy the pregame spiel.)

Next: Two Years of Suffering to Pay Off

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