February 27, 2026; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Buffalo Sabers center Ryan McLeod (71) moves the puck against Florida Panthers center Sam Rinehart (13) during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images Buffalo Sabers forward Tage Thompson is excited to see what’s at stake in the team’s final 23 regular season games.
The Sabers will continue their road trip on Saturday when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“We’re doing a really good job and I think every point is important for us, especially at this point in the season going forward,” Thompson said. “Especially (against) the eastern team.”
Buffalo extended its season-high road point streak to eight games (7-0-1) with a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday.
This marks the team’s first consecutive streak since 2006-07, when the team achieved the feat en route to a 10-game winning streak to start the season.
The Sabers are third in the Eastern Conference with 74 points on the season.
Alex Tuch scored his 23rd goal of the season on Friday, the second most for the club, while Beck Malenstyn added his fifth.
“Every game is a playoff game from now on.” said forward Peyton Krebs, who scored the game-winning goal by scoring into an empty net with 1:17 remaining.
“We need a win, and it’s going to be really fun.”
Forward Jack Benson (upper body) has not played since hitting the boards in a win over Florida on Feb. 2 and recently battled a viral illness.
However, Benson was able to join the team on the road and skate against the Lightning in their third game in four days.
“He was good enough last night to get him here,” Benson coach Lindy Ruff said.
With coach Jon Cooper sitting out his second game since the death of his father, the Lightning showed both resilience and offensive prowess against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
Playing their first game after the Winter Olympics break, the Hurricanes held a three-goal advantage with just 6:41 remaining in their matchup against the Eastern Conference’s top team.
But Brandon Hagel scored his 28th goal of the season, and Nikita Kucherov and Dominic James also scored.
Brayden Point’s 14th goal of the season tied the score at 4-4, and Carolina’s Sebastian Aho scored on a power play for the only goal of the third period.
“We spent a lot of energy trying to come back from 3-0, which is never a good way to go,” said Lightning coach Rob Zetler, who oversees the defense.
“We started to clean up in the second half of the first period. … We needed a kill to keep it together and see if we could get back-to-back points.”
But that didn’t happen as the Lightning’s six-game winning streak was halted.
Zettler, a former defenseman, said the diversity of the roster helps.
“We have a lot of people we call ‘gamers,’ and we have a lot of skills on our team,” he said. “The guys can make plays, but we are dangerous. We average almost four goals per game.”
Tampa Bay, which has won 10 straight on home ice, enters Saturday’s game with Kucherov on a 12-game point streak (eight goals, 20 assists).
Jake Guentzel had three assists to bring his point total to 63 points, second only to Kucherov’s 95 points.
–Field level media
