3 Takeaways From The Florida Panthers & Buffalo Sabers Game 03/08/2025

At the start of March, the Panthers said that they were in playoff mode now, and they’ve certainly looked like it over their last few games. Florida is dominating teams at the moment, with three out of their last five games being against teams in playoff position. Two new Cats made their debut as Vitek Vanecek got his first start in goal, and Nico Sturm drew in as the fourth line center. Suffocating defense held the Sabers goalless while the Panthers scored goals from every line. Sweeping the five-game homestand, Florida is in first place in the Atlantic division with a four-point lead over Toronto. With less than twenty games to play, Florida players have spoken about how they’re not worried about wins and losses right now but are making sure they’re playing the right way that’ll help them be successful in the postseason.

New Cat Debuts:

A fresh start in Florida seems to be just what Vitek Vanecek needed. He’s had a rough season out in San Jose and hasn’t had a win since November. The Cats gave him the start against Buffalo Saturday as it’s a team he statistically does well against with the support of a hard defensive team in front of him. Vanecek stopped all 21 SOG that he saw, and any rebounds he gave up were cleared away by the Cats, who were protecting the front of the net. That doesn’t mean that he didn’t have to make some great saves however, as Florida gave up a couple of breakaways, including one in the first period. Vanecek stood tall on the breakaway while making the save on the point blank shot, which earned him very loud cheers from the home crowd. One of his biggest saves of the night came with just over seven and a half minutes to go in the second period, where he saved a deflected puck. The play earned him ‘Van-Ny’ chants from the crowd, as did the save late in the third period when Buffalo had a chance off a player coming out of the penalty box. In his post-game interviews, Vanecek spoke highly of the crowd and how appreciative he was of their support, as well as how the Panthers played defense in front of him. He was all smiles after his big win and became just the third goalie in franchise history to earn a shutout on his debut. Nico Sturm showed he is as advertised. Excellent in the faceoff dot where he went 7 for 10, he took 3 SOG, 1 block, and threw 3 hits. Nosek has been serviceable on the fourth line, but Sturm feels more like an equal replacement for Kevin Stenlund. HC Paul Maurice spoke highly of Sturm and his intelligence in his post-game presser while praising what they saw out of Nosek on the right wing. Sturm was also all smiles in his post-game where he spoke out how winning is the source of all his good feelings when he’s playing a depth role since he’s not scoring much and how he’s going to look at film to see what mistakes he made with the new systems especially on the PK since it’s so different from the Sharks. The new Cats made a big first impression in their first game and will likely only get better as they settle into their new routines.

Depth Scoring:

It’s always a good night when the Panthers can get goal-scoring from every line. A.J. Greer started things off as he was in the perfect position to pick up a shot from Schmidt that had squeaked behind Luukkonen’s pads. His sixth goal of the season, and he’s had a career-high 16 points this year. Unsurprisingly, he was also the one that got into fisticuffs with Dunne in the third period, which left him one assist short of a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. The Panthers’ top line had been buzzing all night, and following a fantastic shift in the offensive zone, they were finally rewarded with a goal. Ekblad jumped up in the play, which left Carter Verhaeghe back at the point where Barkov found him. Screens by Reinhart and Ekblad pulled UPL out of position and gave Verhaeghe a wide-open net on the blocker side to shoot at. He picked his point up top and gave Florida the 2-0 lead with just over ten minutes to go in the second period. For the second time in the game, a Panther put in a puck that had gotten behind UPL’s pads; this time, it was Anton Lundell who picked up the Schmidt shot to put it in for the third goal of the night and firmly put the game out of reach for Buffalo. Finally, after several attempts at the empty net, Bennett was the one to bury it for the 4-0 win over the Sabers. Greer earned third-star honors, Schmidt’s two primary assists earned him second-star honors, and the shutout for Vitek earned him first-star honors.

Homestand Sweep:

A challenging five-game homestand for the Cats has led to a six-game game win streak that started out in Nashville. Edmonton, Tampa Bay, and Columbus are sitting in playoff positions right now, with Calgary fighting for a wild card spot themselves. It was no cakewalk, and the Panthers earned every win they got. If Florida is playing in ‘playoff mode’ right now, then fans are seeing the results of that on the ice. They’re a formidable force that’s only gotten better with the moves that were made at the trade deadline. They’ve had three shutouts in their last four games, and it easily could’ve been four straight shutouts, as the Tampa Bay goal was a bit of a fluke one where the puck barely squeaked through Bobrovsky’s arm. Just watching the team, you wouldn’t even think that they’re missing as big of a piece in their lineup as Matthew Tkachuk, and we’ll have to wait and see how Brad Marchand fits into the puzzle. There’s a very real possibility that Marchand is a 3rd or 4th line guy on this roster. I think that’ll depend on if they want to move Mackie Samoskevich off the Bennett line or if they’re going to move Eetu Luostarinen down the lineup and play him with Lundell. Florida’s got plenty of players who can play up and down the lineup, which makes their roster more flexible than most, but Paul Maurice typically likes to keep his pairings together. Those would be Barkov-Reinhart, Bennett-Tkachuk, and Lundell-Luostarinen. There’s been plenty to like during the homestand, while improvements to the roster are still a possibility.