The recent struggles of Florida Panthers continued on Saturday in Buffalo.
Florida entered the game having scored just four goals over their past three games, all losses, and things didn’t get much better against the Sabres.
Florida put up 32 shots on goal, but they were all stopped by former Cats goaltender Alex Lyon as the Panthers dropped their fourth straight outings by a 3-0 final score.
This one didn’t have much to write home about from a Panthers perspective.
Niko Mikkola left the game early in the second period and did not return. The team ruled him out for the game due to an upper-body injury.
It may or may not have been from an incident in which Mikkola was tied up with Sabres forward Tyson Kozak and ended up faceplanting on the ice.
Niko Mikkola gets tangled up with Tyson Kozak and slams his face on the ice 😬🤕 pic.twitter.com/GhLYzE4cIS
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 18, 2025
Afterwards, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice did not have anything to update on Mikkola’s status.
The Panthers are off on Monday so there won’t be any updates until the team’s morning skate on Tuesday in Boston.
We'll see if the Cats can salvage any points out of this disaster of a road trip before they return home for a matchup with Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
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Photo caption: Oct 18, 2025; Buffalo, New York, USA; Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) dives to try and make a save on Buffalo Sabres center Peyton Krebs (19) during the second period at KeyBank Center. (Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images)