Former Panthers assistant coach and current Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff coached in his 1,900th NHL game. Panthers head coach Paul Maurice reached his 1,975th NHL contest behind the bench tonight.
Florida(24-16-3) rocketed out to a 1-0 lead on the man advantage at the 2:35 mark. Carter Verhaeghe passed the puck from the low left circle. Uvis Balinskis shot it from the top of the zone and Sam Reinhart deflected it in from the top of the crease by Colten Ellis for his 24th goal of the season.
Buffalo(24-16-4) tied it up 1-1 at 10:19 of the opening frame. Zach Metsa angled a pass from the top of the zone and Ryan McLeod connected a cross-ice pass from the right point. Jacob Bryson placed in a snap shot from left point by Sergei Bobrovsky for his second tally of the year.
The Panthers regained the lead 2-1 with 4:49 remaining in the first. Verhaeghe forwarded an outlet pass from his own zone. Sam Bennett carried the puck through the neutral zone and passed to his right. A.J. Greer chalked up his eighth goal this year when he snapped a shot from the top right circle.
The Sabres evened it up 2-2 with 2:03 left in the second period. Josh Doan handed the puck off to
Tage Thompson on the left point and Thompson released a shot from the left wing which was saved.
Zach Benson poked the puck in from the right side of the crease for his fifth goal of the campaign.
In the third period, the Cats pulled ahead 3-2 with 8:53 to go. Gustav Forsling ripped a shot from the blue line which was stopped. Eetu Luostarinen touched the puck in the crease area and Anton Lundell swept it into the cage from the right goal line for his 14th goal in 2025-26.
Buffalo pulled their goalie for an extra attacker and it did not work. Greer picked up his second tally of the contest and ninth goal this season with an empty-net goal from center ice to give Florida a 4-2 lead with 1:14 remaining in the third.
The Sabres did close it to 4-3 with 13.6 seconds left in the period. Alex Tuch backhanded the puck from the left goal line and banked it off the back of Bobrovsky for his 15th goal of the season.
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