With the NHL Trade Deadline over, the Florida Panthers will return to the business of hockey and welcome the Buffalo Sabres to town. Well, the Sabres spent trade day in Fort Lauderdale, canceling their afternoon practice at the IcePlex suspected due to uncertainty about what the trade day would bring.

The Buffalo Sabres could be involved in something more than a rental deal before the NHL trade deadline this Friday. GM Kevyn Adams has indicated that he has interest in signing pending unrestricted free agent wingers Jason Zucker and Jordan Greenway to contract extensions and has interest in making hockey deals that would bring back players currently in or ready to play in the NHL and one of the names apparently on a contender’s wish list is winger Alex Tuch.

Another player who fits the Lightning’s needs is Chicago forward Ryan Donato. Donato’s 17 even-strength goals are tied for 11th in the NHL despite averaging just 12:55 of ice time. His 1.34 goals per 60 minutes ranks seventh in the league among players with 50 games or more.

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An early-period, post-whistle scrum resulted in a fight between Dunne and Greer. Dunne, listed at 6-foot-4, got a few solid punches in before he and the 6-foot-3 Greer dragged one another to the ice. The sequence also yielded an Aaron Ekblad roughing penalty which resulted in an unsuccessful Sabres power play.

BOTTOM LINE: The Buffalo Sabres are looking to stop their four-game slide with a victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa Bay is 36-21-4 overall and 7-10-0 against the Atlantic Division. The Lightning are second in the league with 217 total goals (averaging 3.6 per game).

Tuch scored a power-play goal on five shots and went minus-2 in Thursday's 5-2 loss to the Hurricanes. Tuch accounted for a third of the Sabres' shots and half of their goals in the contest.

For most Buffalo Sabres fans, the end of the season could not come soon enough. Squaring off at home against a team the caliber of the Edmonton Oilers isn’t met so much with excitement, but quiet dread,

Dating back to the 2016-17 season, the Sabres are 5-2-0 versus the Oilers at KeyBank Center. JJ Peterka has 16 points (8+12) in 13 games since the Sabres and Oilers last met. Since Feb. 4, Draisaitl (10 G) and Tuch (8 G) rank first and fifth in the NHL.