Jason Zucker broke a third-period tie on the power play, and the surging Buffalo Sabres continued their push up the standings with a 5-3 win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Monday night.
Zucker’s go-ahead goal came at 5:31 of the third period, snapping a 3-3 tie and helping Buffalo win for the sixth time in its last seven games. The Sabres moved into the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and now hold a 10-point cushion over Florida.
Peyton Krebs led Buffalo’s offense with a goal and two assists, while Tage Thompson, Zach Benson and Josh Doan also scored. Rasmus Dahlin added two assists, and Alex Lyon continued his strong play in net, stopping 38 shots to improve to 11 wins in his past 12 starts.
Florida, which has lost four straight, got goals from Sandis Vilmanis, Evan Rodrigues and Uvis Balinskis. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 15 saves. The Panthers trail Boston by nine points for the final playoff position in the East with 27 games remaining.
The game started fast for Florida, despite the Panthers being short-handed up front without several key forwards, including captain Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand. Vilmanis opened the scoring just 37 seconds into the game, and Rodrigues made it 2-0 at 5:56 of the first period. Florida’s night grew more difficult when center Sam Bennett exited after the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return.
Buffalo responded with two goals later in the first to pull even. Thompson beat Bobrovsky with a long wrist shot, and Krebs tied it by finishing a rush chance in front to send the game into the first intermission deadlocked at 2-2.
The Sabres took their first lead at 5:44 of the second period after Bobrovsky ventured well out of his crease to play the puck. Ryan McLeod won the race and fed Benson in the slot for an easy finish and a 3-2 Buffalo advantage. Florida answered late in the period when Balinskis scored on the power play to tie it again.
Special teams proved decisive in the third. After Balinskis’ equalizer, Buffalo regained the lead on its own power play when Doan sent a blind feed to Zucker, who buried the winner. Doan capped the scoring with an empty-net goal off a pass from Krebs with 2:19 remaining.
The Sabres visit Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, while the Panthers return home to host Boston on Wednesday.
