It has been a long time since the Florida Panthers have been looking up at the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference standings.
Yet, here we are.
The Sabres are one of the teams standing in the way of a playoff berth for the Panthers.
The Panthers, which has lost three straight coming into their game with the Sabres tonight in Sunrise, need to catch Buffalo, Montreal or Boston for a return to the playoffs for a seventh consecutive season.
The Sabres have endured many a lean season before a resurgence this year.
Buffalo has missed the playoffs a NHL-record 14 straight seasons and has not won a championship in its 55 years.
The closest they came was losing in the Final to Dallas in 1999 on a still-disputed triple overtime goal by Brett Hull.
During Paul Maurice’s time in Florida, the Panthers are 10-3-0 against Buffalo — and 1-1 this season.
Trailing the Sabres by eight points in the standings, winning the next two against Buffalo certainly would help the team’s playoff push.
Buffalo had been red-hot before losing 4-2 to the visiting Canadiens on Saturday night.
Former Panthers goalie Alex Lyon had set a franchise record with 10 consecutive wins.
Lyon had not lost since Nov. 28 and has a 1.77/.945 this month — and the Sabres are 20-4-1 since Dec. 9.
He made 27 saves on 30 shots on Saturday and is expected to start tonight.
Lindy Ruff coached the Sabres for 15 seasons and returned to Buffalo last season.
During the non-playoff seasons, Buffalo had six different head coaches.
The Sabres also had a host of starry first round draft picks, including Jack Eichel, Rasmus Ristolainen, Sam Reinhart, Rasmus Dahlin, and Owen Power.
The Sabres have talent.
The unquestionable scoring ace is 6-6 Tage Thompson who has 28 goals and 56 points in 54 games this season.
Thompson, a late starter, was a throw-in as part of a 2018 offseason trade with St. Louis, which sent Ryan O’Reilly to the Blues. Thompson bounced around the minors for a few years before reaching stardom with the Sabres four seasons back.
Alex Tuch came over from Vegas in the 2021 Eichel trade has proven himself to be a premier two-way player.
He has two 36-goal seasons to his credit and is on pace for similar output this season.
Dahlin, the team captain, played in three all-star games and was a Calder Trophy finalist as a rookie in 2019. Always an offensive threat, he had a three-goal, five-point game against Toronto last week.
Dahlin, Power, Bowen Byram, and Mattias Samuelsson have provided offense from the blueline. The four defenders have 34 goals and 109 points between them.
Buffalo’s special team stats as well as goals for and against per game have improved significantly over last season.
As for the Panthers, tonight certainly feels like one of those ‘must-win’ games.
Florida has 59 points and 28 games left.
The task ahead is tough but not insurmountable.
This is a four-point game against a team that Florida needs to overtake for a reasonable chance at a playoff berth.
The Panthers are not going into the game with momentum after three straight 1-goal losses to Utah, St. Louis and Winnipeg.
These losses fall into the “heartbreak” category, with each game-winning goal coming late in the final period.
After the 2-1 loss to Winnipeg on Saturday, Paul Maurice was at a loss for a real explanation other than citing “tight games” wherein one mistake can be costly.
“We played hard,’’ Maurice said. “We played our asses off. It’s tight right now with some of our challenges. We’ve just got to keep the faith. Maybe that’s the test of where we’re at. That’s the thing to win this year. You keep your belief and you keep your fight when it’s going against you.”
This is the first of three games before the Olympic break with Buffalo tonight, Boston Wednesday and Tampa Bay on Thursday.
The season may be on the line with the outcome of these games.
ON DECK: GAME No. 55
BUFFALO SABRES at FLORIDA PANTHERS
