Sabres aim to stay hot vs. struggling Panthers

Last 10 -- Florida 3-5-2; Buffalo 6-3-1

Season series -- This is the last of four meetings, with the home team still looking for a victory. On Oct. 21, the Sabres scored five goals in the first period and cruised to a 5-2 road win. Ryan Miller made 41 saves to earn the victory. On Nov. 18, the Panthers scored four times in the third period of a 6-2 road win. Michael Frolik scored twice and Tomas Vokoun made 26 saves. On March 20, Jochen Hecht, Patrick Kaleta and Mike Grier each scored to lift the Sabres to a 3-1 road win.

Big story -- Florida has dropped out of the playoff picture, but the Sabres, who are already assured of a postseason berth, are collecting as many points as possible to clinch the Northeast Division and a top-three seed. Buffalo has not participated in the playoffs since 2007.

Team scope

Panthers -- Florida is beginning a two-game road trip that will also take the Panthers to Boston on Thursday.

In their last game on Monday, the Panthers blew a 2-1 lead late in the third period and lost 3-2 in overtime at home against Nashville. Keith Ballard and Stephen Weiss scored third period goals, both assisted by Michael Frolik, to put Florida ahead. Patric Hornqvist of Nashville tied the score with 3:07 remaining and Francois Bouillon tallied in overtime.

Scott Clemmensen stopped 22 shots for the Panthers, who lost their third straight game.

The loss left Florida eight points behind Boston for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

"We've got no one to blame but ourselves," defenseman Bryan McCabe told the Miami Herald. "We put ourselves in this spot. Like I've said before, we've been very inconsistent this year. There's no other way to look at it."

Sabres -- Buffalo returns home for one game before embarking on a two-game road trip that will take the Sabres to Toronto and Montreal.

In their last game on Monday, the Sabres earned a 3-1 victory at Boston. Tyler Myers, Paul Gaustad and Tim Kennedy scored goals, and Ryan Miller made 40 saves to earn the win. Miller stopped Marco Sturm on a penalty shot only 3:20 into the first period. Buffalo played without regulars Thomas Vanek, Tim Connolly, Patrick Kaleta and Raffi Torres, all sidelined with injuries.

With the win, Buffalo opened up a seven-point lead over Ottawa in the race for the Northeast Division title.

Who's hot -- For the Panthers, McCabe has 3 assists in four games, and Cory Stillman has 2 goals and 4 assists in seven games. For the Sabres, Jason Pominville has 2 goals and 4 assists in five games, Paul Gaustad has 3 goals in three games, and Tim Kennedy has a goal and 2 assists in three games.

Injury report -- For the Panthers, David Booth (concussion) is on injured reserve, and Gregory Campbell (foot) and Byron Bitz (elbow) are day-to-day. For the Sabres, Vanek (lower-body), Connolly (lower-body) and Torres (upper-body) are day-to-day. Kaleta had thumb surgery and will miss at least two weeks.

Stat pack -- Florida's Stephen Weiss is having a career year offensively. With a goal and an assist on March 21 against Tampa Bay, Weiss registered his 12th multi-point game of the season. The goal also marked the 100th of his career. To date, Weiss has already set career bests for goals (27) and power-play goals (11) with seven games left to be played. … McCabe is three points shy of 500 for his career. … On Monday, Radek Dvorak played his 553rd game with the Panthers, moving into third place on the all-time franchise list behind Robert Svehla (573) and Olli Jokinen (567). … The Sabres are 27-0-0 when leading after two periods. … Last Saturday, Patrick Lalime of Buffalo became the 66th goalie in NHL history to record 200 career victories by defeating Tampa Bay. … Buffalo is 30-4-4 when scoring first.

Puck drop -- "We all kind of have to elevate our game here toward the last stretch of the season. I think that's how you want to go into it entering the playoffs." -- Pominville, as quoted in the Buffalo News

Man if only Gerbe can get the same strength that Briere had....if only

This game and Toronto(next game) will be the easiest games left on the schedule.. The last 5 are at Montreal(7th), Rangers(10th), Boston(8th) all within 4 points of each other and also Ottawa(5-0 against us), NJ(good team)..

Let's hope we get 4 points in these 2 games...

We match up well against the Devils and Rangers. If they want to play a defensive battle, the Sabres can win. Boston is see as trouble seeing as we still can't figure out Rask. Ottawa is Ottawa. Montreal is almost as much as our bitch as Toronto is this season.

Sleshlund's meaningless game stat predictions

BUF 10 - FLA 0

Gerbe nets 3 with 3 assists (and hits Ballard so hard it ends his season )
Myers nets 1 with 2 helpers (bringing him ever so close to the 50 pt mark for the season)
Pomminville nets 2 with 3 assists
Torres with 3 assists (Hey, him and Gerbe find chemistry together, Big Casino, Little Casino)
Ennis with 2 and 2 helper (Some one has to feed Pomminville)
Hecht (well, Hecht will just be Hecht, the lovable German we've missed the last couple of seasons)
Roy goes virual on the Panthers with 4 and 4

Does that even add up right?