Sunrise, Fla. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Against a team like the Florida Panthers, it was going to take a total team effort to get a win. That's exactly what the Buffalo Sabres got on Monday night.
A total of 10 different skaters got registered a point, while Alex Lyon stood on his head in goal to help lift the Sabres to a 5-3 win over the Panthers 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 A.J. Greer in the back, and the puck bounded right to linemate Sandis Vilmanis, who wired a shot above 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, as forward Evan Rodrigues put a quick shot on goal that changed direction off Jason Zucker's skate, allowing the puck to elude Lyon.
The Sabres' offense got going, though, and had their goalie's back and tied the game before the first intermission.
First, it was Tage Thompson leading by example. The Sabres forward pulled a cheeky move just inside the blue line to help open up space in the slot, and then snapped his team-leading 29th goal past Florida netmnder Sergei Bobrovsky.
Then with 1:34 left in the period, Sabres forward Peyton Krebs powered home the tying goal off a centering feed from captain Rasmus Dahlin.
It was Krebs' seventh goal of the campaign.
As for the second period, it turned into a track meet with end-to-end action and chances aplenty. One of those chances came courtesy of a calculated risk by a netminder.
About five-and-a-half minutes into the middle 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. McLeod had his afterburners going and won the race, then located Zach Benson for the go-ahead goal.
The Sabres were a minute away from taking the lead into the second intermission, but the Panthers had other ideas while on the power play.
A pass from Panthers forwatd Sam Reinhart got through loads of traffic, and ended up on the stick of defenseman Uvis Balinskis. His snapshot tied the contest at 3-3.
Early in the third period, the Sabres lost Benson to an injury, as he was taken down after a partial breakaway and slammed hard into the end boards. He attempted to take a shift shortly after the play, but shut things down and walked back down the tunnel to the dressing room.
Moments later, the Sabres re-claimed the lead while on the power play. This time, it was winger Josh Doan connecting with Zucker in front of the Florida net with a brilliant pass to give Buffalo a 4-3 edge.
With Florida pressing hard, the Sabres fanned the flames late 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, giving him his first-career three-point effort.
The Sabres' 5-3 regulation victory now puts 10 points between them (69 points) and the Panthers (59) in the playoff race.
The Sabres now only trail the Detroit Red Wings 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) (A.J. 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 comes Tuesday night when the Sabres close out the second game of their back-to-back Florida swing in Tampa Bay against the Lightning. Puck drop at Benchmark International Arena is at 7:30 p.m. with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the radio broadcast on WGR.