Okposo set up Scandella at the inner edge of the left face-off circle to make it 2-0 at 2:02 of the third period.
"I've never seen a bench cheer so much for another line having success," Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said of Okposo, Larsson and Girgensons. "The entire bench just erupted on both of the goals. To see all that hard work, the grinding they've been doing the first five games is paying off so big tonight. They were certainly the ones that were cheered now in the locker room after the game. We're just pleased they got some offensive return for all that effort."
The Panthers pressed in the third, outshooting the Sabres 19-4. It paid off at 6:15 when Dadonov scored from the edge of the crease to cut it to 2-1.
"We started to play a little more desperate, we started to play a way that we intended to all game, getting pucks on net, starting to hold on to pucks, making plays," Hoffman said. "We've just got to do that for a full 60 minutes, just not the last five, six minutes when we need a goal."