Sunrise, Fla. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - New faces, much of the same results.
The State of Florida was a horror show for the Buffalo Sabres. After blowing a two-goal second-period lead on Thursday night in a 6-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Sabres followed it up with a 4-0 shutout loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena.
Just 7:20 into the opening period, the Panthers got the scoring started after a shot from defenseman Nate Schmidt trickled behind Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. It was forward A.J. Greer who managed to bang home the loose puck to make it 1-0, Florida.
The Panthers doubled their edge over the Sabres at the halfway point of the second period when forward Carter Verhaeghe popped a wrist shot from the point that eluded all five skaters creating traffic in front of Luukkonen.
The Sabres' deficit reached 3-0 late in the middle stanza, as another shot from Schmidt somehow leaked through and in-behind Luukkonen. This time, it was forward Anton Lundell in the right spot to put the puck over the goal line.
It was a fairly low-event third period, as the Sabres couldn't get their game together to apply any pressure on Panthers goalie Vitek Vanecek.
With Luukkonen pulled in the late stages for the extra attacker, Sam Bennett laid salt in the wound with an empty-net goal to push the score to 4-0, Panthers.
With the 21-save shutout against the Sabres, Vanecek moved to 11-2-1 all-time against Buffalo, which includes his two-career shutouts.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: NONE
FLA: 7:20 - A.J. Greer (6) (Nate Schmidt, Dmitry Kulikov)
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
FLA: 9:32 - Carter Verhaeghe (17) (Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad); 17:09 - Anton Lundell (15) (Nate Schmidt, Jesper Boqvist)
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
FLA: 19:26 - Sam Bennett (20) ENG (Sam Reinhart)
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Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Vitek Vanecek - FLA
2.) Nate Schmidt - FLA
3.) A.J. Greer - FLA
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What's Next:
The Sabres return home to host the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night at KeyBank Center. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.