Tonight the Sabres started slow, but rallied to come back and beat the defending Cup Champion Panthers on the road 5-3 for a huge two points!

The Panthers got on the board just 37 seconds into the game, with the Panthers getting a shot, then having it bounce weird, for AJ Greer to spin around to put it on the net, giving them a 1-0 lead early. Very sloppy goal, with the Sabres defense all spread out. Florida made it 2-0, 5:54 into the game with former Sabre Evan Rodrigues chasing a missed shot from the other former Sabre, Sam Reinhart and deflecting it off Jason Zucker and past Lyon. Not a great start. Tage Thompson put the Sabres on the board with a beautiful shot after a nice little spin in the slot to get back within one, making it 2-1 with 4:55 left in the first. With 1:34 left in the first, Peyton Krebs tied it up, with a beauty pass by Dahlin setting up Krebs a little tip in at the crease to even up the game. Slow start to the game for Buffalo, but we looked better as the period went on.

Zach Benson got the Sabres their first lead of the game, with Bobrovsky coming way out of the net to go to the puck with Ryan McLeod, who then spun around and dished it to Benson to put on goal, putting the Sabres up 3-2. The Panthers tied it back up with 1:01 left in the second period, with a a real nice pass through traffic from Sam Reinhart on the power play over to Ivies Balinskis to rip into the net, knotting this game up, 3-3. 

Pretty much immediately on the power play, 5:31 into the third period, Josh Doan made a great play down low behind the net, setting up Jason Zucker in the slot for a a top shelf rip past Bob to put the Sabres back up 4-3. The Sabres took a huge 5-3 lead with 2:09 left in regulation, getting a big insurance goal from Josh Doan on a tip in from a nice two on one with Peyton Krebs. Huge win!

FINAL: Sabres 5, Panthers 3

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Huge win for the Sabres. Needed those two points, especially coming off Saturday’s loss to the Habs. I didn’t think we played all that great tonight, especially early, getting into a 2-0 hole less than six minutes into the game, but we stuck in there, came back to tie it up before the first period ended, then played our game to get the win on the road in a tense game. We were outshot 41-20 and out-chanced 24-14, but with some great play in goal from Alex Lyon and resilient play offensively, scoring when we got the chances to get the win. Huge.

Tomorrow we have another huge game on the road in Tampa. Let’s get another win in what will be a very tough matchup.

Let’s Go Buffalo!

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