Sabres erase early deficit, race past Knight, shorthanded Panthers in Buffalo

By JOHN WAWROW

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Jordan Greenway and Tage Thompson scored 41 seconds apart in the first period, and the Buffalo Sabres ended a season-opening three-game skid with a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night.

Henri Jokiharju, Mattias Samuelsson and Alex Tuch, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Sabres, who combined for three goals in their first three outings. Lindy Ruff won his first game in his second stint as Sabres coach, 4,257 days after his last victory with Buffalo — a 4-2 decision over Boston on Feb. 15, 2013.

Sam Bennett and Nate Schmidt scored for the Panthers, who have lost two straight since a season-opening win over Boston.

Panthers goalie Spencer Knight stopped 22 shots in his first start since a 6-2 loss to St. Louis on Feb. 14, 2023. He then entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program to help manage an obsessive-compulsive disorder, and spent last season in the minors.

Takeaways

Panthers: The defending Stanley Cup champs lacked punch playing without captain Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness). Knight has to be sharper, especially on Thompson’s go-ahead goal that beat him through the legs from 25 feet.

Key moment

Sabres goalie Devon Levi turned aside Sam Reinhart’s shot off a 4-on-2 break 32 seconds into the second period. Jokiharju put Buffalo up 3-1 66 seconds later.

Up next

The Panthers play the third of a four-game road trip at Boston on Monday at 1 p.m.