The goals keep piling up for the Florida Panthers, who look to continue their high-scoring ways when they visit the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.
Florida leads the NHL with 227 goals, adding to that total with Saturday’s 6-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. It was the 10th time this season that the Panthers have scored at least six goals in a game.
“When we play with that pace, it limits the room for the opposition,” said Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, who had two assists. Noting that the Wings were playing their second game in as many days, Reinhart said his team “put that much more emphasis on the pace early.”
The same strategy could be deployed against the Sabres, who are also heading into the second half of a back-to-back. Buffalo suffered a 3-0 shutout loss against the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday afternoon.
The Sabres had been on a two-game winning streak, with five goals scored in each of the two victories. However, the club’s season-long offensive woes resurfaced on Sunday, as Buffalo managed only 19 shots in its sixth shutout defeat of the season.
Alex Tuch left the game in the third period and is questionable for Monday’s lineup. While pursuing the puck on a rebound, Tuch fell into the Kings’ net, with the goalpost colliding with Tuch’s head and shoulder area.
It could be yet another injury absence for a Sabres team that has had trouble staying healthy all season. Forward Vinnie Hinostroza finally made his return Sunday after missing 18 games with an ankle injury, following a brief return to practice last month that resulted in more missed time.
“You’re dealing with ankles, you kind of feel good and you don’t really know,” Hinostroza said prior to Sunday’s game. “Then you do something full speed and you kind of take a step back… I was pretty disappointed hurting it again and having to go back and do more rehab, but I feel so much stronger now and ready to go.”
Since Dustin Tokarski started against Los Angeles, Craig Anderson is the Sabres’ probable starter on Monday. Anderson has 299 career NHL wins and will attempt to become the 39th goalie in league history to reach the 300-win plateau.
The Panthers will travel straight from Buffalo to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. Since the Penguins are among the Eastern Conference’s top teams, Florida could opt to save starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for Tuesday and start backup (and former Sabre) Jonas Johansson in Monday’s game.
Aleksander Barkov collected three assists Saturday against Detroit, giving the forward 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) over his last 16 games.
Reinhart will be playing in Buffalo for the first time since being traded from the Sabres to the Panthers in July. Drafted second overall by the Sabres in 2014, Reinhart spent his first seven NHL seasons in Buffalo.
Reinhart already made an impact against his former team in the first meeting of the season between the Panthers and Sabres, a 7-4 Florida win on Dec. 2. Buffalo held a 3-0 lead midway through the game before the Panthers caught fire, with Reinhart contributing a goal and three assists in the comeback.
–Field Level Media
