Panthers Look To Claw Their Way Past Buffalo Yet Again
Key Absences and Betting Insights for Panthers vs Sabres Clash
Buffalo Sabres Will Be Without Star Defenseman Owen Power
The Buffalo Sabres are one of three Eastern Conference teams with a losing record at home. Facing a Florida team with a conference-best 18 road wins might make it hard to change that trend. The Panthers vs Sabres preview has Florida as the road underdog for the 11th time this season.
The Panthers have won seven of the last eight games against the Sabres and that includes four straight road wins.
The NHL betting lines have Florida priced at -150 to win the game outright as this will be the 14th meeting in a row when the Panthers are favored against the Sabres. The Moneyline is at +130 for Buffalo to pick up the victory.
Florida is tied for fourth at +1000 in the odds to win the Stanley Cup with Buffalo well back at +25000 in the championship odds.
If the NHL playoff schedule came out today, Florida would have home-ice advantage against the Tampa Bay Lightning while Buffalo is 10 points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
A quick look at the NHL standings shows that Florida’s 18 road wins are tied with Vancouver for the most in the NHL this season.
Keep on reading for more on the first matchup of the season between the Panthers and the Sabres.
Panthers vs Sabres 
Record: Florida Panthers 33-15-4 (UPDATE) at Buffalo Sabres 23-25-4
Day/Time:
Location: KeyBank Arena, Buffalo, NY
Streaming: MSG-B, Bally Sports Florida, ESPN+
Another Return Engagement for Reinhart
Sam Reinhart was a four-time 20-goal scorer in his six full seasons with the Sabres after being the No. 2 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft.
The Sabres shipped Reinhart off to Florida in July of 2021 for goalie Devon Levi and a first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
Levi has shown some potential since leaving Northeastern after his sophomore season. The first-round pick was used to select forward Jiri Kulich who has 16 goals in 33 AHL games this season and he was one of the top players at the most recent World Junior tournament.
All Reinhart has done in his three seasons with the Panthers is score 103 goals. He already had a career-high 39 goals as he is on pace to score 62 goals. Keep that in mind when looking at the Panthers vs Sabres preview.
Reinhart has no goals and three assists in four games in Buffalo as a member of the Panthers.
The total has gone under in four of the last six games played by the Panthers.
A Lack Of Consistency Slowing the Sabres
Every once in a while Buffalo shows some of its potential.
It happened the last time out when the Sabres rolled to a 7-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings. The Sabres also came away with four out of a possible six points in the three road games against the California-based teams in late January.
However, that trip marked the second time this season that the Sabres have won back-to-back games. That is something to consider when it comes to the Panthers vs Sabres preview.
The inability to string together victories has Buffalo headed to another playoff-less season. Buffalo could be on its way to missing the playoffs for the 13th season in a row despite having nine former top-10 picks on its roster.
The total went under in five of Buffalo’s last seven games against Eastern Conference teams.
Last Meeting
Matthew Tkachuk scored early in the third period as the host Panthers won 2-1 in the eighth one-goal affair over the previous 16 matchups as Florida won the season series for the second season in a row.
It was the lowest-scoring game between the teams since a 3-0 Florida win on Apr. 8, 2017. It was also the fifth straight game between the teams that failed to go over the total.
Panthers vs Sabres Betting Preview
After beating Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Florida pulled within two points of the Boston Bruins for the top spot in the Atlantic Division and in the Eastern Conference.
Florida has won its last nine games as the road favorite while Buffalo has lost three of its last four games as the underdog at home.
The Panthers are 29-13-2 as the favorite this season with Buffalo 11-20-3 as the underdog.
The game landed over the total in just one of the last six times that Florida played at Buffalo. Florida has seen eight of its 27 road games go over the total. The total is currently at 6.5 for this matchup.
When it comes to the NHL scores, the Panthers are 3-0-1 when playing in the second game of back-to-back contests.
Florida has covered in 16 of its 27 road games.
Buffalo will be without defensemen Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson injury as well as forward Jack Quinn for this game.
Six of the last seven home games for the Sabres landed under the total and this game could be headed in that direction.
For NHL betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
