Early lead slips in up-tempo loss to Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. - Don Granato said pregame that he expected an up-tempo contest between his young Buffalo Sabres and the high-scoring Florida Panthers on Thursday.
The two teams delivered, but it was the Panthers who overcame a strong early push from the Sabres to earn a 7-4 victory. They improved to 13-1-0 at FLA Live Arena this season.
Florida trailed 3-0 and 4-1 before finishing with six unanswered goals, the last two of which were scored into an empty net with goaltender Aaron Dell pulled for an extra attacker.

"I thought the pace was unbelievable," Granato said. "I thought our guys were fine with the pace. I thought some guys, a few guys struggled and then … we had some self-inflicted errors there that accumulated through the second period."

The Panthers outshot the Sabres 21-6 during the second period and cut what had been a three-score deficit to one with a trio of goals scored within a span of 5:43.
Consecutive power plays for Florida bled into the third, opening the door for defenseman Aaron Ekblad to bury his second goal of the game to tie the score, 4-4, at 1:07 of the period. Anton Lundell netted the winner less than seven minutes later.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored Florida's first empty-net goal to complete a five-point night (2+5). Lundell also scored into the empty net for his first career multi-goal outing. Sam Reinhart, playing against his former team for the first time, added three points (1+2).
Dell, starting after fellow goaltender Dustin Tokarski entered the NHL's COVID-19 protocols prior to the game, made a highlight-reel pad save on a Huberdeau breakaway less than 70 seconds into the contest. The Sabres killed an ensuing penalty, prompting a three-goal run.
Vinnie Hinostroza opened the scoring on Buffalo's first shot of the evening, the product of a crossing feed on the rush from Rasmus Dahlin. Dylan Cozens picked the top corner after Kyle Okposo forced a turnover in the neutral zone to make it 2-0.
Cozens and Hinostroza connected for third goal. Cozens carried the puck out of the corner and deked by Joe Thornton - a future Hall of Famer more than twice his age - before sending a pass to Hinostroza through the blue paint. Hinostroza buried it for his first multi-goal game since 2019.

Casey Mittelstadt, playing for the first time since he sustained an upper-body injury on opening night, added Buffalo's fourth and final goal during the second period. The Panthers pulled starter Sergei Bobrovsky for Spencer Knight, who stopped all of the 19 shots he faced.
"If we play that way the whole game, we're not going to lose very many games," Mittelstadt said. "It's on us as players and we've got to push back here."

Florida ranks second in the NHL with an average of 3.87 goals per game. It showed why with high-wire rushes and extended stretches spent in the Buffalo zone.
"They're a good team," Mittelstadt said. "That's how they want to play, that's what they want to do to you. They've been doing it to a lot of teams this year. But, yeah, I just think at some point when they're coming after us, we've got to fight back and I think that's about it. Stop the bleeding.
"It's been kind of a sour spot for a lot of years, so that's on us as players. We've got to go out and win the next shift and, yeah, we just let the momentum get too far in their favor."

Mittelstadt's return

Mittelstadt skated 19:02 and tallied three shots, including his goal on the rush during the second period. He stepped right in on the top power-play unit alongside Tage Thompson, Victor Olofsson, Jeff Skinner, and Dahlin.

Granato said he was monitoring the forward's ice time but felt comfortable giving him shifts as the game wore on due to his conditioning.
"Casey was extremely impressive tonight, extremely," Granato said.

Up next

The road trip concludes in Carolina on Saturday. Coverage on MSG begins at 7 p.m. The puck drops at 7:30.