Panthers Sting Sabres

     The Florida Panthers swept a two-game road trip with a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Thursday night. Aleksander Barkov played in his 300th NHL game for the Panthers. The Sabres entered the game with the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
     Buffalo(14-28-9) got a 1-0 lead at 7:02 of the first period. Ryan O'Reilly scored on the power play with assists from Sam Reinhart and Kyle Okposo.
     Florida(21-22-6) evened it up on their own power play at 11:06. Keith Yandle put in a tally on assists from Barkov and Vincent Trocheck. The Cats took the lead 2-1 on another power-play goal by Michael Matheson. Nick Bjugstad was credited with an assist on the play.
     The Panthers made it a two-goal margin 3-1 with 1:49 left in the first. Jonathan Huberdeau banked the puck off the boards to Keith Yandle at the right point. He passed to the front of the net where Denis Malgin delayed and flipped in a backhand shot.
     The Sabres closed the gap early in the second period. Zemgus Girgensons put in a shorthanded 32 seconds into the frame from the slot area on a feed by Johan Larsson behind the cage.
     In the third period, the Cats put the game away with 2:24 remaining to make it 4-2. Colton Sceviour skated the puck into the Buffalo zone on a 2-on-1 breakaway and scored on a backhand shot from the crease area. It was the 100th NHL point for Sceviour in his career.