Sabres at Panthers preview

SABRES (25-44-12) at PANTHERS (42-30-8)
7 p.m. ET; SN360, FS-SN, MSG-B, NHL.TV

Florida needed the Philadelphia Flyers to lose in regulation Saturday, and to win their final two games; the Flyers defeated the New York Rangers 5-0.
The Panthers, who have won the first three games of their four-game homestand, will be without center Aleksander Barkov, who sustained an upper-body injury in a 3-2 victory against the Bruins on Thursday.
The Sabres have lost three in a row, including a 7-5 decision against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday.

Players to watch

Sabres forward Ryan O'Reilly has three goals and four assists during his current five-game point streak.
Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo is 3-0-0 with a 1.67 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage during the homestand.

They said it

"With the group we have, I still don't believe we should be where we're at, but we are there. Things have to change." -- Sabres forward Jason Pominville
"Even if it doesn't go our way, we've battled so hard to get ourselves into this position that it would be a shame to just roll over and die and not come out and perform for our fans."-- Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson

Sabres projected lineup

Scott Wilson -- Jack Eichel -- Kyle Okposo
Evan Rodrigues --
Casey Mittelstadt
-- Jason Pominville
Alexander Nylander
-- Ryan O'Reilly -- Sam Reinhart
Jordan Nolan -- Johan Larsson -- Nick Baptiste
Marco Scandella -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Brendan Guhle -- Casey Nelson
Justin Falk -- Nathan Beaulieu
Chad Johnson
Adam Wilcox
Scratched:Josh Gorges, Matt Tennyson, Kevin Porter
Injured: Zach Bogosian (lower body), Jake McCabe (shoulder), Jacob Josefson (lower body), Linus Ullmark (upper body), Robin Lehner (lower body), Victor Antipin (concussion), Zemgus Girgensons (face)

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Vincent Trocheck -- Colton Sceviour
Evgenii Dadonov -- Jared McCann -- Nick Bjugstad
Frank Vatrano -- Denis Malgin -- Jamie McGinn
Micheal Haley -- Derek MacKenzie -- Maxim Mamin
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson
-- Mark Pysyk
MacKenzie Weegar --
Alex Petrovic
Roberto Luongo
James Reimer
Scratched: Connor Brickley, Radim Vrbata, Micheal Haley, Ian McCoshen
Injured:Aleksander Barkov (upper body)

Status report

The Sabres did not hold a morning skate. … MacKenzie missed the morning skate, but will play.

Stat pack

Casey Mittelstadt and Alexander Nylander scored their first NHL goals on Friday, becoming the first Sabres players to do so in the same game since 1995, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. … The Panthers can set a franchise record for home victories. They're 26-11-3 at BB&T Center, tying the mark first set in 1999-2000.