Summary:
Florida begins a four game road trip tonight at Buffalo looking for their first win of the season. It is also Day 9 of #PirriGate and fans continue to grow restless online. Will Florida start their road trip on a high note? On to the game!
Historical Context:
In 79 games played against the Buffalo Sabres, the Panthers have 31 wins, 38 losses, 4 ties, and 6 overtime losses. This leaves the team with 72 points and a .456% points percentage. This ranks Buffalo as team number 18 out of 29 opponents on the Panthers total win column.
Last season, the two teams met up on four separate occasions. On October 25th, Florida visited Buffalo and ultimately lost, 3 to 1.The rest of the year grew progressively better for Florida as they won the next 3 games. On January 9th, Florida wins at the First Niagra Center, 2 to 1 in the shootout. The two teams next met on January 21st, with Florida winning on the road again, 4 to 3. Finally, on March 7th, Florida wins at home with their only shutout of the year, 2 to 0.
What To Expect:
A ridiculous amount of Connor McDavid jokes. Seriously. It’s going to be ugly on Twitter.
Know Your Enemy:
Matt Moulson: After bouncing around from the Islanders to Buffalo and then from Buffalo to Minnesota, Moulson returns to Buffalo fresh off a five-year, $25m contract. Moulson (a three-time 30G scorer) will bring some much needed scoring to what is a very thin Buffalo offense.
Expected Line Combinations:
Florida Panthers:
L1: Jokinen/Barkov/Hayes
L2: Huberdeau/Bjugstad/Upshall
L3: Bergenheim/Bolland/Fleischmann
L4: Kopecky/MacKenzie/Boyes
D1: Campbell/Ekblad
D2: Mitchell/Kulikov
D3: Olsen/Gudbranson
Starting G: Luongo
Backup G: Montoya
Buffalo Sabres:
L1: Moulson/Ennis/Stafford
L2: Foligno/Hodgson/Stewart
L3: Mitchell/Girgensons/Gionta
L4: Deslauriers/Reinhart/McCormick
D1: Gorges/Myers
D2: Weber/Ristolainen
D3: Benoit/Meszaros
Starting G: Enroth
Backup G: Neuvirth
Closing Thoughts:
It’s buffaslug vs team Pub Sub tonight. Let’s hope the Panthers will start this road trip on a high note and come home with a few more points in the standings. I’ll be live-tweeting most of the game so send me a tweet and say hello!
Kris M. can be reached for contact on Twitter or via email at [email protected].
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