Giles Debut: Lines, Odds, How to Watch Panthers at Sabres

Patrick Giles will make his NHL debut for the Florida Panthers when they play the Buffalo Sabres tonight.

Giles, 24, appeared to make the team out of training camp.

Because he was not subject to waivers — and because of Florida’s precarious salary cap situation — he was sent to Charlotte to start the season.

Giles was with the Checkers for their season-opener in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., when he was told to get to Buffalo for his dream to come true.

“it feels great,” Giles said Saturday. “Started yesterday in Charlotte, then we headed to Wiles-Barre for our first game and got the call to come here. Got in late last night. I am thrilled to be here. Couldn’t be more thrilled, more excited.”

With Sasha Barkov out with an injury, the Panthers needed another forward and move Tomas Nosek to LTIR in order to make such a move.

If it seems like Giles was just with the Panthers, well, he was.

He practiced with the Panthers on Monday morning after playing in seven of their eight preseason games.

A dark horse candidate to make the Panthers out of camp, Giles impressed the team which his improved speed and conditioning.

Giles signed with the Panthers as an undrafted senior out of Boston College in 2022.

“It was nice getting a lot of preseason games in, just gelling with the guys here,” Giles said. “Being my first game, it does feel like I have played more just due to those preseason games. I am ready to go tonight. I was gone for a couple days, but now that I’m here, it feels like I never left.’’

Matthew Tkachuk is also out tonight with an illness, meaning Florida will have to play with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

Expect a rotation of centers to join Giles and Jonah Gadjovich.

— Tonight’s starting goalies: Spencer Knight gets his first NHL start since Feb. 18, 2023 and goes against former Florida prospect Devon Levi.

This will be Levi’s first start against the Panthers.

Knight and Levi did not square off in the AHL last season.

— Adam Boqvist will be back in the lineup tonight after leaving Tuesday’s game when he was struck in the face with a clearing pass. Boqvist has been wearing the full plastic cage in practice.

He should resume quarterbacking the top power-play unit.

— Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen are back with Sam Reinhart with Barkov out for the next couple of weeks.

— The Sabres are 0-3 to start this season in the return of head coach Lindy Ruff. Florida has won its past five in Buffalo.

— This is the second of Florida’s four-game road trip which continues Monday afternoon in Boston.

ON DECK: GAME 3

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT BUFFALO SABRES

• When: Saturday, 7 p.m.
• Where: KeyBank Center, Buffalo
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/Fort Lauderdale); WHDT 9 (West Palm); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/Fort Myers)
• Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Local Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-120); Puck line (-1.5, +195); Over/Under 6 (+100/-120)
• Last Season (Panthers Won 3-0) — At Buffalo: Panthers 4, Sabres 0 (Feb. 15). At Florida: Panthers 3, Sabres 2 (Feb. 28); Panthers 3, Sabres 2 OT (Ap.13).
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 57-45-8, 4 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Monday at Boston Bruins, 1 p.m. (Local TV)

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (1-1-0) LINES

13 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart

23 Carter Verhaeghe// 9 Sam Bennett // 17 Evan Rodrigues

10 A.J. Greer // 70 Jesper Boqvist // 25 Mackie Samoskevich

12 Jonah Gadjovich // — //  36 Patrick Giles

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

34 Adam Boqvist // 26 Uvis Balinskis

— 88 Nate Schmidt

30 Spencer Knight

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched: None

Injured: Sasha Barkov (LBI), Matthew Tkachuk (ill), Tomas Nosek (LTIR-UBI), Justin Sourdif (UBI)

PROJECTED BUFFALO SABRES (0-3-0) LINES

9 Zach Benson // 72 Tage Thompson // 89 Alex Tuch

20 Jiri Kulich // 24 Dylan Cozens // 22 Jack Quinn

17 Jason Zucker // 71 Ryan McLeod // 12 Jordan Greenway

29 Beck Malenstyn // 19 Peyton Krebs // 81 Sam Lafferty

26 Rasmus Dahlin // 10 Henri Jokiharju

4 Bowen Byram // 25 Owen Power

23 Mattias Samuelsson // 75 Connor Clifton

27 Devon Levi

1 Pekka Luukkonen

Scratched: Jacob Bryson, Dennis Gilbert

Injured: JJ Peterka (concussion), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (LBI)

Buffalo Sabres Lines Courtesy NHL.com