The forward, who has missed the past three games with an upper-body injury, returned to practice Monday in his usual spot between Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch.
Thompson leads the Sabres with an NHL career-high 89 points, including 44 goals, which is sixth in the NHL,
"He looked good in practice," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "I'll have a conversation with him on the plane here, but I liked what I saw. … It's just one of those injuries that will impede your functioning until it resolves completely, and that could happen overnight. And today was a very good sign."
Thompson was injured in the first period of a 5-4 win against the New Jersey Devils on March 24 following a hit from Timo Meier. He played the following day, a 2-0 win against the New York Islanders, but has been out ever since.
"I feel like the last few days I've been making some good strides," Thompson said. "Today was a good test to get back out there and just kind of get a little more battles and kind of just feel it a little bit more. So today, I think, went pretty well."
The Sabres are looking to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2011, the longest active drought in the NHL. They are five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference, and six points behind the New York Islanders for the first. Buffalo has two games in hand on Pittsburgh and three on New York, making Tuesday's game against Florida, which is one point behind the Penguins, even more crucial.
"It's a big game," Tuch said. "They're a really good team. Everyone's coming around the corner and you're fighting (for a playoff spot). They're a team that we're going to have to play really well against to be able to beat them in their own barn. We're going to have to play an almost perfect game, and we're going to have to really try to go and outwork them. That's pretty much what it comes down to. I think toe-to-toe, it's pretty evenly skilled, evenly matched two teams, and we have to try to play to our game plan and beat them that way."
The Sabres have found their game of late to stay in contention, going 4-0-1 in their past five games after losing 10 of their of their previous 12 (2-8-2). The Sabres were outscored 59-31 during that slide, which came at a time when they were trying to manage the pressures of battling for a playoff spot, a new experience for the majority of the roster, which is the youngest in the NHL.
"Whether that was warranted pressure or not, we could feel pressure about the situation we're in," Thompson said. "That's something for the remainder of the games we can't let get to us, and I think it's something you can take from those games you can learn."
A healthier lineup has helped.
Tuch returned from a lower-body injury that caused him to miss eight games on March 13. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson and forward Jordan Greenway each returned on March 31 after missing eight and four games, respectively.
Now, the potential of getting Thompson back should add even more of a boost.
"It'll be really good," Tuch said. "It'll be keeping the defense on their toes and adds a very offensive element to our team. He's been dominating this year and I think he's going to jump right back to it. He's worked really hard to hopefully get back in the lineup tomorrow, if not soon, and he'll jump right in like he didn't miss a beat."
Dylan Cozens agreed.
"We know it's a big game tomorrow, and to get Tage back for that one would be really big for us," Cozens said. "Obviously, he's a huge part of this lineup and a massive part of our team. Hopefully he's good to go. We know how big the game is, but we don't want to overthink things. We don't want to feel the pressure and stress, we just want to go out and play our game, and we'll be good."
