Sabres Lance Panthers

     The Buffalo Sabres held on to defeat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Thursday night at BB&T Center. Buffalo have won five of their last six games as they snapped a three-game losing streak to the Cats. The Panthers are winless in six of their last seven games. Jaromir Jagr appearance in the contest tied Nicklas Lidstrom for tenth all-time in NHL history with 1,564 games played.
     Buffalo(8-8-0) waited until late in the first period to get on the scoreboard. Matt Moulson was able to connect a pass from the end wall to Brian Gionta inside the right circle. He snapped a shot by Roberto Luongo with 31.5 seconds left for his first tally of the year.
     In the second period, the Sabres had a goal disallowed at 6:33. Tyler Ennis went around Dave Bolland in the low right circle and stuffed in a shot from the side of the crease. The Panthers challenged the goal because Ennis was offside when Buffalo entered the offensive zone.
     Florida(6-7-3) continued the momentum as they scored on their third power-play attempt at 9:35. Jagr had the puck on the right-wing wall and centered it to Nick Bjugstad in the low left circle. He passed it to Jonathan Huberdeau at the top of the crease and he scored his first goal of the season by Linus Ullmark. Jagr passed Teemu Selanne for 12th place in NHL history with his 589th power-play point on the play.
     The Sabres scored a goal in the final 70 seconds for the second straight frame. Cody Franson buried a shot from the slot area with 1:07 remaining for his second goal with his new club to give them
     Buffalo got their first chance with the man advantage early in the third period and they made the most of it and extended their margin to 3-1. Ennis waited for a long time on the right wing before he fired a slapshot which was deflected into the Panthers cage by Sam Reinhart in the crease area at 3:38. It was the third career NHL goal by Reinhart.
     The Panthers cut the deficit down to 3-2 with four minutes left. Aaron Ekblad rocketed a slapshot from the top of the zone and it was redirected by Vincent Trocheck in the low slot for his seventh goal.