Sabres 5, Panthers 3: Ostlund's power-play goal wins it, but Dahlin leaves hurt
Buffalo scored twice on the power play and got a late insurance goal from Tage Thompson to beat Florida, but captain Rasmus Dahlin left in the second period and did not return.
The Buffalo Sabres beat the Florida Panthers 5-3 at KeyBank Center on Monday, a game decided by special teams and shadowed by an injury to captain Rasmus Dahlin. The win moved Buffalo to 3-3-0 after two straight losses, according to NHL.com. Florida fell to 2-2-2.
A back-and-forth game
Josh Doan opened the scoring at 5:58 of the first period on a rush, and Anton Lundell tied it for Florida in the same period. Dahlin gave Buffalo the lead again with a power-play one-timer, NHL.com reports. Florida's Sam Reinhart then scored twice on the power play in the second period, once on a tip and once on a play set up by Brady Tkachuk, to tie it at 2-2 and 3-3. Between those goals, Ryan McLeod put Buffalo up 3-2 on a breakaway.
The decisive goal came on the power play too. Noah Ostlund scored a one-timer from in front early in the third period, off a feed from Zach Benson, to make it 4-3. Tage Thompson added the fifth goal in the third from the slot on a feed from Owen Power. Each team scored twice with the man advantage, but Buffalo got the last one.
Goaltending changes
Both teams changed goalies. Florida's Paul Maurice pulled Jacob Markstrom after the first period, with Akira Schmid finishing the game. NHL.com quotes Maurice as saying Markstrom "just tightened up, and so we pulled him." Buffalo's Colten Ellis allowed two goals on nine shots before Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen came in after Reinhart's first goal.
The Dahlin injury
The more important news for Buffalo may be the injury. Dahlin was hurt in the second period after taking a shot, went to the locker room and did not return, NHL.com reports. He stayed behind when the team left for its three-game road trip, which opens Tuesday at Montreal. Coach Lindy Ruff listed him as day-to-day and said that "probably rules him out for tomorrow." Die by the Blade, which also covered the game, reported only that Dahlin has an upper-body injury with no timetable, so the prognosis is not firmly established.
What it means
Buffalo got the win and a strong start, with Ruff saying he thought it was "our best start," but the loss of its top defenseman clouds the road trip. Power was a plus-3 in 26:31, and Olen Zellweger led all skaters with six shots on goal, NHL.com reports, which points to the defense group that will need to carry minutes while Dahlin is out. For Florida, it is a slow opening stretch: the Panthers have lost four of their last five and visit Columbus on Tuesday. Brady Tkachuk recorded his first point with his new team in the loss.