Improving to 40-31-7, the Panthers now hold the first wild card in the Eastern Conference, while the New York Islanders, who also have 87 points at 39-30-9, are in the second wild card. Not far behind, the Penguins are just outside the playoff picture with a record of 38-30-10 for 86 points.
Shaking off a four-game losing streak, the Panthers have won each of their last four games.
"It's a good feeling coming to the rink," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "You're in control of something and you're on a bit of a roll. You feel good. You're watching the scoreboard differently. We're not watching it during the game, we're checking it after. It's a good feeling."
Given what was on the line, tonight's game was full of tension from start to finish.
After successfully killing off a power play for the Panthers, the Sabres opened the scoring on their own man advantage soon after when Dylan Cozens beat goaltender Alex Lyon with a blistering wrist shot from beyond the right circle to make it 1-0 at 8:58 of the first period.
On another power play, Aaron Ekblad, who entered the night riding a four-game point streak, evened things up for the Panthers when he settled down a pass from Brandon Montour and snapped a shot from near the top of the left circle past rookie netminder Devon Levi to make it 1-1 at 15:47.
In the second period, there were no goals to speak of as both goaltenders made some fantastic saves. Lyon stopped eight shots for the Panthers, while Levi made 14 saves for the Sabres. Also lending a hand, one of the biggest plays of the period came when Marc Staal put his body on the line to block a threatening shot from Cozens from the left circle that could've easily ended up in the back of the cage.
Led by four from Staal, every one of Florida's defensemen registered at least one blocked shot in the win.
"It just shows the buy-in and commitment we have to making the playoffs," Tkachuk said of the team's shot blocking. "Everybody's putting it on the line. Each and every shift you could tell. You could see the dedication and commitment. Everybody's playing for each other in this room."
Letting the home fans exhale and get their heart rates down just a little bit, Tkachuk broke the deadlock just 59 seconds into the third period when he stuck out his stick and re-directed a perfect point shot from Montour past Levi and into the twine to put the Panthers on top 2-1.