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The Buffalo Sabres continue their road trip tonight in Sunrise, Florida as they take on division rivals the Florida Panthers in a key Thursday night showdown. The Sabres, 5-2 in their past 7 games, look to continue the hot streak and vault into the playoff picture, as a win tonight could see them in 4th in the Atlantic Division (even typing that idiotic name pisses me off). Coming off a huge win in Tampa Tuesday night, which saw Eichel collect his first road goal, assist, and points; Franson his first goal as a Sabre; Foligno his first goal of the season; Chad Johnson's streak of making at least one miraculous save extended, and the Sabres first win against the Lightning, the Sabres will look to continue take advantage of a Barkov-less Panthers team that has been struggling lately. Florida is 1 point ahead of the Sabres. As mentioned, Florida is in some rough shape, It's been 3 weeks without their top center, the young Alexander Barkov, and boy do they miss him. Florida (3-4-3 in their last 10), is coming off a 4-3 win vs the Flames, have scored less than 2 goals in 5/6 games, has given up 20 goals in those last 6 games as well, and had lost 5 straight prior to beating the Flames. The Sabres lost in Florida in the only match-up this season thus far, falling 3-2 on goals from McCabe and Ennis. Look for Luongo to start, I will post the Sabres starting goalie once I know in the a.m. Barkov is expected to resume skating today after suffering a broken hand, but is day-to-day. Mike Weber is out, and back in Buffalo with an LBI. Game Preview Stats: Game 1: 3-2 Loss Team Comparison Chart All Team Rankings Wednesday's Practice Report The lines below are from the previous game, no line combinations were released Wednesday, I will update these as well in the a.m. Forwards: 26 Matt Moulson – 90 Ryan O'Reilly – 12 Brian Gionta 88 Jamie McGinn – 15 Jack Eichel – 63 Tyler Ennis 22 Johan Larsson – 28 Zemgus Girgensons – 23 Sam Reinhart 44 Nicolas Deslauriers – 17 David Legwand – 82 Marcus Foligno Defense: 4 Josh Gorges – 55 Rasmus Ristolainen 29 Jake McCabe – 46 Cody Franson 25 Carlo Colaiacovo– 3 Mark Pysyk 6 - Mike Weber 35 Linus Ullmark 31 Chad Johnson