Score: Sabres 5, Panthers 2
Shots: BUF: 27, FLA: 25
Buffalo Sabres Goals: Jordan Greenway (1), Tage Thompson (2), Henri Jokiharju (1), Mattias Samuelsson (1), Alex Tuch (2)
Florida Panthers Goals: Nate Schmidt (1), Sam Bennett (3)
Plus 1: Finally, A Win
Saturday’s win was a big one for the Sabres, and a much-needed one at that. The Sabres have never in franchise history gone 0-4 to start a season, and this year’s team managed to avoid making history in that way. It’s still early in the season, but Sabres fans were already growing impatient with the team having lost three straight, and the fourth would’ve been quite a dagger.
That said, this was an important win for Buffalo, and an impressive one given that it came against the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Florida was without a few key pieces, including Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, and Buffalo was able to capitalize to set the tone before heading out on the road later this week for a trio of games.
Plus 1: Rally
Though Florida did strike first midway through the opening frame, the Sabres didn’t sit back and quickly tied the game, then took the lead with two quick goals. Jordan Greenway’s opener was followed less than a minute later by a wrister from Tage Thompson. All of a sudden, the Sabres had control of the game, and from there, they never let go. Henri Jokiharju’s goal early in the second furthered Buffalo’s lead.
Great to see “noted goal-scorer” Mattias Samuelsson also get on the board as well. The patience on his shot was well-executed, and he earned the team’s Player of the Game honor, which this year is a special vest. Throw in Alex Tuch’s empty-netter late and this was overall a good effort from the blue & gold.
Final Thoughts
We’re going to sound like a broken record if we keep talking about the power play, but we all know it’s something the Sabres need to figure out before we get any further into the season. Buffalo is one of four NHL teams to have not scored on the man advantage yet, going 0-for-14. Enough said.
There were a lot of positives to take away from this one, including scoring five goals in a single game when the team had three goals in its first three games combined. Now, the Sabres have to ride this momentum through the next few days of practice (the team is off Sunday) and prepare for a three-game road trip to Pittsburgh, Columbus and Chicago.