Panthers continue to sink, falling to Sabres for 4th consecutive loss

Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald on Feb 2, 2026

Published in Hockey

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MIAMI — The Florida Panthers were fully aware just how critical this week is for their Stanley Cup playoff chances.

They have three games against division opponents, including two against teams they’re directly competing against for either wild-card spots or the third seed in the Atlantic Division, with a lot of ground to make up.

Those playoff chances, which feel like they’re getting slimmer by the day even with 27 games left to play, took another hit Monday with a 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at Amerant Bank Arena.

In a game that saw Florida lead by multiple goals in the first period and then erase an eventual deficit late in the second period, Jason Zucker scored the game-winning goal for Buffalo with 14:29 left to play with a shot from up close on a Josh Doan pass from behind the net. Doan then added an insurance goal on a two-on-1 with Peyton Krebs with 2:09 left to play.

Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon, who was Sergei Bobrovsky’s backup in the 2022-23 season and led the charge for Florida’s push to the playoffs that ended in the first of three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final, made 38 saves for his 11th win in his past 12 starts.

Florida falls to 28-24-3 and has now lost four consecutive games. Buffalo improves to 32-18-5.

The Panthers, with 59 points, are now nine points out of the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, currently held by the Boston Bruins (32-20-4, 68 points).

Florida quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Sandis Vilmanis and Evan Rodrigues in the opening six minutes.

Vilmanis scored his second career goal 37 seconds in when a Niko Mikkola shot bounced to him in the left circle, where he fired off a wrist shot that beat Lyon on the second effort.

Rodrigues then made it 2-0 at 5:54 of the first when he took a pass from Sam Reinhart, who hustled to the boards to corral his missed shot, and flicked a puck from up close past Lyon. It was Rodrigues’ 10th goal of the season but just his second in his past 28 games.

The lead didn’t last long, though, as the Sabres tied the game before the end of the frame.

Tage Thompson cut Florida’s lead to 2-1 with 4:57 left in the period on a snap shot from the high slot through traffic.

Peyton Krebs then tied the game 3:23 later on a tap-in following a cross-crease pass from Rasmus Dahlin.

And then the Sabres took their first lead of the game 5:44 into the second period when Zach Benson scored on an open net after Bobrovsky left the crease to play a 50-50 puck shortly after a Florida power play ended. Ryan McLeod, who just left the penalty box, beat Bobrovsky to the puck to get it to Benson who easily beat Gustav Forsling trying to defend the net with Bobrovsky out of position.

Florida tied the game with 1:01 left in the second on an Uvis Balinskis power-play goal to set up a critical third period.

But the Sabres scored twice in the third period to sink the Panthers’ chances despite Florida outshooting Buffalo 41-20.

Another injury

Panthers center Sam Bennett did not play the final two periods of Monday’s game against Buffalo due to an upper-body injury.

Florida as a result played the final 40 minutes of the game without any of its centers from its Stanley Cup playoff run last season that ended in a second consecutive championship. Aleksander Barkov and Tomas Nosek both have been out all season, while Anton Lundell has missed the past three games with an upper-body injury.

Eetu Luostarinen slid over from wing to center and took Bennett’s spot between Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk. Mackie Samoskevich moved to the top line with Rodrigues and Reinhart as a result.

Cole Schwindt and Luke Kunin centered Florida’s third and fourth lines.

Up next

The Panthers close out their pre-Olympic break schedule with back-to-back games against the Bruins at home Wednesday and at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.

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