Sabres hope to stop slide against visiting Panthers
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Things have hardly gone according to plan for the Buffalo Sabres this season.
Just before the start of the season, budding superstar Jack Eichel was lost for up to two months with a high ankle sprain. In Buffalo's season opener, top forward Evander Kane suffered cracked ribs after a hard fall into the boards. Starting goaltender Robin Lehner has missed time due to illness.
That's all resulted in a dreadful start, with the Sabres earning one win in the first first six games (1-3-2).
The Sabres hope Saturday's matinee against the visiting Florida Panthers (3-3-1) can mark the start of a turnaround, or at least temporarily stop the bleeding.
"I feel like we're there, that's the frustrating part," said Lehner, according to the Sabres' team website. "I feel like we're in the game and then in five-minute segments we kind of lose the game. Small details. We just need to stay consistent to our game plan. It's not like we're not in games.
"We've got to buy in. We've got to buy into the game plan. It's not 55 minutes buying into the game plan or 50 minutes, it's 60 minutes or if it's overtime we do that too."
It'll help if Lehner returns between the pipes for Buffalo, but it's expected that the Sabres will wait until Sunday's game against Winnipeg to insert him back into the lineup. Anders Nilsson started two games in Lehner's place, both losses, and is expected to get the call once again against Florida.
The Sabres fell to the Minnesota Wild last time out on Thursday in a 4-0 home defeat. Buffalo mustered almost no offense throughout the game, minus a brief spell at the start of the second period after falling behind.
"I think that (the shots are) gonna go in and we've got to believe that, and we've just got to continue with the way that we need to play," forward Kyle Okposo told the team's website.
The Panthers end their four-game road trip with back-to-back games against Buffalo and Detroit before heading back to Florida for two home games. Florida is coming off back-to-back 3-2 losses to Toronto and Pittsburgh.
Forward Jonathan Marchessault came out of nowhere to become one of Florida's most surprising success stories. Through seven games, the unheralded offseason signing has 10 points (five goals, five assists).
Marchessault joined the Panthers from Tampa Bay, signing a two-year deal worth only $750,000 per season.
"Every year I was a surprise. I fuel off people that don't believe," Marchessault said to Sportsnet. "Every year, nobody thought I was going to do good. Every year, nobody thought I was going to make that team, make junior, make pro, make AHL, make NHL. It wasn't the easiest path I had, but it was a different one. I made it here."
Young standout Aleksander Barkov is next in points behind Marchessault with five (two goals, three assists). The ageless Jaromir Jagr is not far behind with a goal and three assists through seven games.
In net, Roberto Luongo is off to a strong start to the year with a 3-2 record and a save percentage of .916.
