Jagr Debuts And Panthers Beat Sabres

     Jaromir Jagr made his debut for the Florida Panthers on Saturday as they defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 at BB&T Center. It ended a four-game losing streak for the Cats who played their second game of a seven-game homestand. The Panthers traded Tomas Fleischmann to the Anaheim Ducks for Dany Heatley and a 2015 third-round pick prior to the game.
     For the second straight game, Florida(27-22-13) surrendered a goal within the first five minutes of the contest. Zach Bogosian set up the play with a short pass through the slot area and Cody Hodgson slapped a shot by the right arm of Roberto Luongo for a Buffalo(19-39-5) 1-0 lead.
     The Sabres extended their margin to 2-0 at 7:18. Johan Larsson made a clearing pass out to center for Andrej Mezaros. He skated into the Panthers zone and snapped a shot from the top left circle through the legs of Luongo.
     In the second period, the Panthers scored on the power play for the first time in six games with two seconds left in a five-on-three situation. It ended a string of 14 consecutive scoreless man-advantage attempts. Brad Boyes won the face-off in the left circle and Jussi Jokinen passed it up to Brian Campbell on the left point. He sent a cross-ice pass to Brandon Pirri above the right circle and he blasted a shot by the left shoulder of Michal Neuvirth at 12:01.
     They did not stop at all as they connected again with another power-play tally at 13:24. Campbell was at the top of the zone and passed the puck to Pirri in the top right circle. He scored his second goal of the game as his slapshot went through traffic in the low slot.
     The Panthers took their first lead of the game with 1:29 remaining in the second. Brad Boyes lifted the puck from the high slot to Jokinen in the low right circle. He moved a backhand pass to Nick Bjugstad in the low slot and he put in his 22nd goal of the season between the pads of Neuvirth.
     The Sabres evened it at 3-3 with 7:06 to go in the third period. Matt Moulson had the puck from behind the Panthers cage and centered to Torrey Mitchell for a one-time shot from the slot area.
     The Cats regained the lead just over one minute later at 14:52. Derek MacKenzie was in the right corner and found Scottie Upshall at the edge of the right circle and he finished it with a wrist shot for his seventh tally this year. MacKenzie put a finishing touch on the contest with an empty-net goal with 16.2 seconds left.