Tkachuk brothers and Bennett carry the Panthers into Buffalo

The Tkachuk brothers and Sam Bennett on one line is the right call, and it's the only real answer Paul Maurice has right now. With Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand both out, Florida needs one line that scares people. In Buffalo this afternoon, that's the one.

Saturday's 4-1 home-opener loss to Minnesota showed the problem. The cats fell behind 2-0 in the first seven minutes and the power play went 0-for-5. Maurice put Brady and Matthew Tkachuk with Bennett in the third, then kept them together at Sunday's practice. Good. Stop spreading the butter thin.

The lineup card: These are expected lines, not confirmed ones.

• Brady Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk
• Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Sam Lafferty
• Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell, Sandis Vilmanis
• Bokondji Imama, Lars Eller, Garnet Hathaway
• Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad, Niko Mikkola and Seth Jones, Dmitry Kulikov and Radko Gudas

Uvis Balinskis is the extra defenseman. Luostarinen left Saturday after a teammate's shot caught him in the leg. He called it a stinger and is in the projected group.

The goalies: Maurice hasn't named a starter. Jacob Markstrom is expected, and he's been the best thing about this start at .917 with a 1.70 GAA. Florida plays in Columbus tomorrow night, so Akira Schmid likely gets one of these two. For Buffalo, Colten Ellis had the net to himself at practice and is expected to start.

Who's out: Barkov (knee) is out six to eight weeks. Marchand (knee) is expected to miss about six weeks. Jonah Gadjovich (upper body) is out too. Buffalo is without Alex Lyon, Conor Timmins and Jason Zucker.

The Sabres: They're 2-3-0 and have scored one goal in two games, losses to Dallas and Utah. Their power play is at 5.9 percent and their penalty kill is at 62.5 percent, per NHL data.

Tage Thompson said the fix is to "get to the net and throw pucks and get bodies there and just get ugly." Lindy Ruff was blunter: "We haven't been connected."

Head-to-head: Florida leads the all-time regular-season series 61-48-8 with four ties. The last time the cats were in this building, Buffalo shut them out 3-0 in October 2025.

The one matchup: Florida's power play against Buffalo's penalty kill. The cats are 1-for-28, the worst start in the league. Buffalo's kill has been the softest thing in western New York. Something has to give, and if it doesn't today, it won't be the kill's fault.

The Ferda number: Matthew Tkachuk has a point in four straight games, by our count. Lars Eller played 18.1 minutes against Minnesota, up 5.2 from the game before, per NHL data. That's what two missing centers looks like on a usage sheet. Eller has been good, but a fourth-line center shouldn't be your answer.

One more for the 21+ crowd: Florida hasn't covered the puck line in four games with closing lines, a small sample. DraftKings has the Panthers at -112 with a total of 5.5. 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

Pabs' read: I've seen this franchise survive a lot worse than a five-game power-play drought. Buffalo is fragile and it's an afternoon game on the front end of a back-to-back for both teams. The brothers line scores early, the power play finally breaks, and Markstrom does the rest. Panthers 4, Sabres 2.

How to watch: Puck drops at 1 p.m. ET at KeyBank Center. Scripps Sports carries it in Florida, with Panthers+ and ESPN+ streaming and MSG-B in Buffalo. Radio is on WQAM.