Vitek Vanecek made 21 saves in the Florida Panthers 4-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at Amerant Bank Arena as the Cats extended their winning streak to six games.
Vanecek joined recently-departed Chris Driedger and Jose Theodore as the third goalie in franchise history to post a shutout in their debut. He was named the game’s First Star by the media.
The Panthers opened the scoring at the 7:20 mark when defenseman Nate Schmidt took a pass from partner Dmitry Kulikov and skated into an open space in the left circle before testing Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. Luukkonen made the initial save, but the puck fell to Schmidt, who took another whack it before A.J. Greer knocked it into the net, matching his career-high of six goals set last season with Calgary.
A buzzing forecheck led to Florida’s second goal 9:32 into the second period. After forcing a myriad of Buffalo turnovers, Aaron Ekblad collected the puck along the boards and passed off to Aleksander Barkov, who fed Carter Verhaeghe up high at the right point. Verhaeghe snapped a rising shot through traffic in front to end a three-game scoring drought.
Following a sweet pad save by Vanecek on Ryan McLeod and Luukkonen’s denial of new Panther Nico Sturm on a 2-on-0 chance, the Cats added another with 2:51 left in the frame.
Again pinning the Sabres in their own end, Jesper Boqvist sent Schmidt into a gaping hole in the defense with a well-placed pass and Anton Lundell was able to convert the rebound after Luukkonen stopped the defenseman’s backhand attempt. Lundell started the sequence off by sweeping the puck up the boards to Kulikov at the point. With his second assist of the night, Schmidt delivered his first multi-point game as a Panther.
The Sabres put up a good fight for the first half of the game, but it was all Panthers in the third as the Cats out-shot Buffalo 12-3.
Sam Bennett got the only of the stanza, scoring into an empty net with the assists going to Sam Reinhart and Niko Mikkola at 19:34.
It was another defensive clinic for the Cats, who have allowed just one goal in the last four games. Since returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, the Panthers have gone 6-1 and outscored the opposition by a 21-7 margin. Florida will open a six-game road trip in Boston on Tuesday night.
Wings & Things
- With his assist on Carter Verhaeghe’s goal, Aleksander Barkov joined Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Reinhart as the only Panthers to post four consecutive 60-point seasons.
- Aaron Ekblad’s secondary assist on that goal was his 30th of the season. Ekblad has seven helpers during his six-game assist streak, which tied him for the longest such run in franchise history.
- Sam Bennett hit the 20-goal mark for the third time in his four seasons with the Panthers. Bennett is eight points away from matching his career-high of 49.
- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen finished with 32 saves and Alex Tuch and Zach Benson were the only Sabres to registered three shots.
- A.J. Greer’s goal was his sixth of the season. Three of those six markers are game-winners. Greer also fought Josh Dunne in the third period.
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