Brandon Montour notched the eventual game-winner and set up a pair of goals and Matthew Tkachuk scored a goal and added an assist in his return to lineup to the lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 decision over the Buffalo Sabres at Amerant Bank Arena.
After applying some early pressure, Buffalo got on the board first when Jordan Greenway dropped to a waiting Dylan Cozens, who ripped in a one-timer from long range at 9:25 with Montour off for hooking. Owen Power collected the second helper on the power-play goal.
Sam Bennett would reply 3:29 later to knot the score. After getting a return pass from Montour as the Panthers entered the zone, Nick Cousins set up Bennett and he snapped a shot from the left circle by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Good job by Montour to work his way deeper into the zone to open space for Bennett.
Tkachuk would put the Cats ahead at the 15:36 mark when he received a sweet seam pass from Carter Verhaeghe following a Luukkonen save on Montour and tried to feed Aleksander Barkov in front. The pass attempt ticked off the toe of Erik Johnson’s blade and slid through the goalie’s legs. We’ll take it!
The score remained the same until 9:41 of the third when Montour made it a three-point night by hammering a one-timer past Luukkonen with Barkov providing the screen in front. The assists on Montour’s fifth went to Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart.
The Sabres sliced the lead in half 3:03 later when Tage Thompson went to the net after an offensive zone faceoff to knock home the rebound after a Sergei Bobrovsky couldn’t handle Rasmus Dahlin’s blast from the left point. The secondary assist went to Alex Tuch, who claimed the puck after the draw and fed back to Dahlin.
Bobrovsky and his mates would clamp down the rest of the way to end Buffalo’s three-game winning streak and reclaim the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Florida’s .695 points percentage is the best in the league. The Cats, who have won eight of their last night, will shoot for a perfect 3-0 homestand when they host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Swords & Tequila
- First Star Brandon Montour led all defensemen with five shots on goal. Montour has racked up three goals and ten points in his last ten games.
- Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 of 30 shots as the Panthers held the opposition to two goals or less for the 14th consecutive time.
- In addition to potting his 17th of the campaign, Tage Thompson matched Matthew Tkachuk with a game-high seven shots on goal.
- Sam Reinhart had a helper, but he is now in the midst of an eight-game goal drought. Despite the cold spell, Reinhart remains second in the NHL in goals with 39.
- The Panthers finished the game with 37 shots and 37 hits. The only player not credited with a hit were former Sabres Montour, Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues.
- For more on Florida’s second win of the season against Buffalo, stop by Die By The Blade.