The Sabres own the longest playoff drought in NHL history, but in this crazy season, the Florida Panthers are looking up at Buffalo in the standings.
Yes, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions will be the underdogs when they go into the KeyBank Center on Monday night to take on the Sabres.
Buffalo, which has missed the playoffs the past 14 seasons, hold the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and lead the Panthers by three points with a game in hand.
The Sabres looked like they were going to miss the Stanley Cup playoffs yet again, but a December resurgence when they won 10 straight got Buffalo excited about hockey again.
And why not?
Buffalo has won 13 of its past 14 games to storm into serious postseason contention.
As for Florida, the patchwork Panthers are just trying to keep pace with everyone else.
Saturday night, the Panthers stayed in the game when it comes to the playoff race — one which is far from being over with the season just passed the halfway mark — by beating the Ottawa Senators 3-2.
Florida had lost four of five coming into the game but got a strong performance from Sergei Bobrovsky and multi-point games from Gus Forsling, Carter Verhaeghe, and Aaron Ekblad to get a win it really needed to get.
With so many high-end players missing from the lineup, the Panthers have done a good job sticking around.
But no one, as Paul Maurice likes to note, feels sorry for the champs.
Florida may be getting some reinforcements back, perhaps both Brad Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk, come Monday.
It could not come at a better time.
“We need them,” Maurice said of the points, not getting two of his top forwards back. Although, he would probably have the same sentiment.
“The playoff push for the Florida Panthers probably started a month ago. Ottawa is in the same boat, and so is Buffalo. This is going to be scratch and claw.”
Saturday, the Panthers trailed 1-0 after a deflected puck floated over Bobrovsky’s shoulder — but he was strong after that.
“The first goal? Sergei is not going to like that one,’’ Maurice said. “But you have seen him do that so many times where if a bad one goes in on him early, he just somehow raises his level. I thought we fought hard.’’
Evan Rodrigues tied the score on one of two power-play goals by the Panthers, with Bobrovsky and the Florida penalty kill going 5-for-5 while limiting the Senators to four shots on goal with the man advantage.
Verhaeghe scored in the second for the lead, with Forsling getting just his second goal of the season for a 3-1 cushion.
Bobrovsky stoned Claude Giroux on a breakaway late in the third, but the Sens did get a 6-on-5 goal off a deflection in the final minutes but that was as close as they would get.
Ottawa, a playoff team last year, is struggling right now.
The Panthers were struggling, starting 2026 off with a dud against the woebegone Rangers with a fantastic win against league-leading Colorado followed by losses in Toronto and Montreal.
Things have not and will not come easy for the Panthers this season.
Getting a win in Ottawa, against a team with a lot of distractions and coming off a disaster in Denver, was a slog.
But it was a win.
Something the Panthers need a lot of moving forward.
The Panthers and Sabres have not played an important game in years — decades? — but Monday will be just that for Florida.
“It was huge,’’ Bobrovsky said. “Every game is big, especially against a divisional opponent. Big win, big points for us, and we’re excited to move on.”
ON DECK: GAME No. 45
FLORIDA PANTHERS at BUFFALO SABRES
