NHL Latest – Buffalo Sabres host the Florida Panthers
The 507th game of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series will be hosted by the Buffalo Sabres as they will be playing the Florida Panthers this Thursday. This will be the second time the teams will be facing each other
out of the four times they have been scheduled to meet during the course of the season. The last time they were up against each other, the Florida Panthers absolutely thrashed the Buffalo Sabres 6-2.
Both the teams are expected to come up with good performances as they are trying to go up and finish in playoff positions in the Eastern Conference. The Florida Panthers were having a good time until their last game. They had
won their last five games after which they lost their last game playing on home against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Panthers lost the game 5-2. On the other hand, the Buffalo Sabres are in good form as they won their last game against the Anaheim Ducks 5-2.
Though the Panthers lost the last game against the Penguins, they dominated the last two periods of that game. They restricted the Penguins to just 17 shots during the course of 40 minutes while they made 29 goal attempts.
Talking about the defeat against the Penguins, the Panthers goal keeper Scott Clemmensen said, "To stop a team three goals -- any team -- before you kind of get your game going, it's tough, let alone against these guys," Scott
Clemmensen replaced Tomas Vokoun in the goal after the Penguins scored three times in less than 11 minutes. "It just became too much for us to climb out of."
The Panthers have currently played 32 games so far out of which they have won 15 games all of which have come in regulation time, scoring 30 points. On the other hand, the Sabres have played 34 games out of which they have won
14 in regulation time and 4 in overtime, scoring 32 points.
As for the win against the Anaheim Ducks, Captain of the Buffalo Sabres, Craig Rivet said, "There's been a lot of mixed emotions that I've had over the last month or so," Rivet said. "But those are things I'm going to work through.
That's the type of person that I am. I was battling some tough situations. I'm happy that I was able to come out and help our team a little bit. If I can continue that, it's all I can ask for."
This shows that Craig Rivet was by far the happiest person on the rink after the win. He has had rough times and now is in good shape ahead of the match. In the last match he scored a goal and made one assist, leading by example.
Ahead of the match, the Florida Panthers would be glad to know that Stephen Weiss scored in his last game and is good form and is expected to score during this game too. The Buffalo Sabres also have their star in Derek Roy who
is regularly scoring goals and has scored five goals in the last five games.
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