Bennett scores late in third, helps Panthers top Sabres for 30th home win

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Sam Bennett scored with 38 seconds left in the third period to help the Florida Panthers win their 30th home game of the season, 4-3 against the Buffalo Sabres at FLA Live Arena on Friday.

Bennett redirected Aleksander Barkov's backdoor pass across the front of the net for his 100th NHL goal and 200th NHL point.
"Obviously, first and foremost, getting a game-winning goal is the most important," Bennett said. "And getting to 100 is a great feeling as well."
Sam Reinhart and Claude Giroux each had a goal and an assist, Jonathan Huberdeau extended his point streak to 10 games, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves for the Panthers (50-15-6), who are 30-6-0 at home.
With a sixth straight win, Florida has a six-point lead over the Carolina Hurricanes for first place in the Eastern Conference and an eight-point lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs atop the Atlantic Division.
Jeff Skinner scored his 30th goal of the season, and Dustin Tokarski made 39 saves for the Sabres (26-36-11), who have lost three of four, including 5-3 at the Hurricanes on Thursday.
"[Tokarski] had a great effort," Buffalo coach Don Granato said. "He's a competitor. He elevates. I do feel bad for Tokarski. I feel bad for all our guys. But we said we want the other team's best because it's the only way for us to grow. Unfortunately, there's a component of development that you need hardship."

Florida, which came back from four goals down in two of its previous three games, trailed 3-1 after the first period.
Patric Hornqvist made it 3-2 at 9:30 of the second period when he banked the puck off the back of Tokarski on a delayed penalty.
Reinhart tied it 3-3 at 14:20 when he tipped Barkov's wrist shot from the point on a power play.
"The start wasn't ideal," Florida coach Andrew Brunette said. "We kind of felt our way through the first period a little bit. I thought we started taking over in the second. A little concerning getting down 3-1, I don't think we played poorly, but maybe not the level we normally play."
Victor Olofsson gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 6:27 of the first period when he scored with one second left on Bennett's hooking penalty.
Giroux tied it 1-1 at 8:25 on a power play when he one-timed Huberdeau's pass from the slot. Huberdeau's 77th assist of the season extended his NHL record for assists by a left winger.
Giroux has two goals and nine assists in nine games with Florida since being acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on March 19.
"He's fit in great," Hornqvist said. "He's a great person, he's a leader and he works so hard on both sides of the puck. He's a shorter version of [Barkov]."

Mark Pysyk gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead 20 seconds later, at 8:45, when his wrist shot from the point deflected off the knee of Florida defenseman MacKenzie Weegar.
Skinner extended the lead to 3-1 at 15:35 with a backhand from close range.
"I thought our first was right what we needed to do," Granato said. "We were aggressive, we were assertive. The pace of the game was unbelievable. Then we [had] a little naïveté. We thought we would start swinging pucks around and playing a little carefree and chased the game the whole second period."
NOTES: Huberdeau has 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in the streak, the second time this season he had a double-digit point streak. He is the second player in Panthers history to accomplish that (Pavel Bure, 13 and 11 games, 1999-00). … Florida has 60 points at home, breaking its record of 58 in 1999-00. … Reinhart tied his NHL high with 43 assists (2018-19). … Barkov had two assists to extend his multipoint game streak to six (14 points; six goals, eight assists), tying Huberdeau for the second-longest in Panthers history behind Bure (seven games, 2000-01). … Sabres defenseman Colin Miller had one shot and two hits in 15:17 after missing seven games in NHL-COVID-19 protocol. … Skinner and Tage Thompson (32) became the first Sabres teammates to reach 30 goals in a season since 2010-11 (Thomas Vanek, Drew Stafford). … Olofsson has six goals in his past seven games. … Florida swept the season series from the Sabres 4-0-0.