Projected Lineups for Panthers vs Sabres –10/18/25

The Florida Panthers take on the Buffalo Sabres at the KeyBank Arena today. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.

PANTHERS (3-3-0) at SABRES (1-3-0)

1 p.m. ET; SCRIPPS, MSG-B, SNP, SNO, SNE

Panthers projected lineup

Mackie Samoskevich — Sam Bennett — Brad Marchand
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe — Evan Rodrigues — Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer — Luke Kunin — Jonah Gadjovich

Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Uvis Balinskis — Jeff Petry

Sergei Bobrovsky
Daniil Tarasov

Scratched: Cole Schwindt, Noah Gregor, Tobias Bjornfot

Injured: Matthew Tkachuk (lower body), Tomas Nosek (knee), Dmitry Kulikov (upper body)

Status report

The Panthers did not practice Friday following a 4-1 loss at the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday and a 3-1 defeat at the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

Latest for THW:

Sabres projected lineup

Zach Benson — Jiri Kulich — Tage Thompson
Josh Doan — Ryan McLeod — Alex Tuch
Jason Zucker — Peyton Krebs — Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn — Tyson Kozak — Josh Dunne

Bowen Byram — Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power — Conor Timmins
Mattias Samuelsson — Jacob Bryson

Alex Lyon
Colten Ellis

Scratched: Zach Metsa, Mason Geertsen

Injured: Josh Norris (upper body), Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower body), Michael Kesselring (undisclosed), Jordan Greenway (middle body)

Status report

Samuelsson took part in practice Friday and is expected to return after missing two games with an undisclosed injury. … Metsa, a defenseman, was recalled from Rochester of the American Hockey League on Thursday; he skated with Geertsen, a forward, on a fourth defense pair Friday. … Kesselring has begun skating on his own, but coach Lindy Ruff said the defenseman is not yet ready to rejoin the team.

Latest for THW:

Substack Subscribe to the THW Daily and never miss the best of The Hockey Writers Banner