Sunrise, FL (WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) - Against a team like the Florida Panthers, it's going to take a total-team effort on most nights to get a win. That's exactly what the Buffalo Sabres got on Monday night. 10 different skaters got a point, and Alex Lyon stood on his head down at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Panthers opened the scoring, on a fortunate bounce, just 37-seconds into the first period. Defenseman Niko Mikkola's shot hit his teammate AJ Greer in the back. Unfortunately for the Sabres, the puck bounded right to linemate Sandis Vilmanis, and he wired a shot above Alex Lyon's left shoulder.
Florida then made it a 2-0 contest 5:54 into the opening frame. Another crummy bounce out in front of Lyon benefitted the Panthers, and forward Evan Rodrigues. His quick shot changed direction off Jason Zucker's skate, allowing the puck to elude Lyon once more.
The Sabres offense got going though, and had their goalie's back as they tied the game up before the first intermission.
First, Tage Thompson led by example. His cheeky move just inside the blue line helped open up space in the slot, and that was more than enough room for Thompson to snap his team-leading 29th goal past Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky.
Then, with 1:34 left in the period, Peyton Krebs powered home the tying goal off a centering feed from Rasmus Dahlin.
It was Krebs' seventh goal of the campaign.
As for the second period, it turned into a track meet; end-to-end action with chances aplenty. One of the chances came courtesy of a calculated risk by a netminder.
About five-and-a-half minutes into the stanza, Bobrovsky skated out of his net in an effort to aid his defenseman and beat Ryan McLeod to a loose puck in the Florida zone.
Fortunately for the blue and gold, McLeod had his afterburners going and won the race. He then located Zach Benson for the go-ahead goal; the Sabres' first lead of the night.
The Sabres were a minute away from taking the lead into second intermission, but the Panthers powerplay had other ideas. Sam Reinhart's pass through loads of traffic ended up on the stick of defenseman Uvis Balinskis, and his snapshot tied things up at three goals apiece.
Early in the third, the Sabres lost Benson to an injury. He was taken down after a partial breakaway, and slammed hard into the end boards left-arm first. He would attempt a shift shortly after the play, but shut things down and skated to the dressing room.
Moments later, the blue and gold re-claimed the lead. They answered Florida's latest powerplay goal with one of their own; it was Josh Doan, who connected with Jason Zucker out in front to take a 4-3 edge.
With Florida pressing hard, the Sabres fanned the flames thanks to a nifty pass from Krebs. With just over two-minutes to go in regulation, Krebs found Doan in front to, effectively, drop the curtain on the Panthers.
The assist was Krebs' third point of the night; his first-career three-point effort.
The 5-3 regulation victory put 10-points between the Sabres (69) and the Panthers (59) in the playoff race.
The blue and gold also trail the Detroit Red Wings (70) by just one point for second-place in the Atlantic Division.
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SCORING RECAP:
First Period:
BUF: 15:03 - Tage Thompson (29) (Peyton Krebs, Rasmus Dahlin); 18:26 - Peyton Krebs (Rasmus Dahlin, Alex Tuch)
FLA: 0:37 - Sandis Vilmanis (2) (AJ Greer, Niko Mikkola); 5:54 - Evan Rodrigues (10) (Sam Reinhart, Tobias Bjornfot)
Second Period:
BUF: 5:44 - Zach Benson (7) (Ryan McLeod, Owen Power)
FLA: 18:59 - Uvis Balinskis (4) PPG (Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe)
Third Period:
BUF: 5:31 - Jason Zucker (14) PPG (Josh Doan, Jack Quinn); 17:51 - Josh Doan (17) (Peyton Krebs, Ryan McLeod)
FLA: NONE
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Bluestar Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
1. Jason Zucker - BUF
2. Rasmus Dahlin - BUF
3. Sam Reinhart - FLA
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What's Next:
Buffalo's penultimate game before the Olympic break is tomorrow night, February 3 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Puck drop at Benchmark International Arena is at 7:30 p.m. EST with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the radio.