5 TAKEAWAYS: Bennett's late goal sends Panthers past Sabres

SUNRISE, Fla. - Once again, they flipped the switch.
Climbing back from an early 3-1 deficit, Sam Bennett scored with 37.3 seconds remaining in regulation to help the Panthers secure a 4-3 win over the Sabres at FLA Live Arena on Friday.
Padding their lead atop the Atlantic Division, the Panthers, who have won nine of their last 10 games, now sit at 50-15-6 and own an eight-point cushion over the second-place Maple Leafs.

"We're not thrilled with our starts," Bennett said. "We've definitely got to figure that out coming up to the playoffs here, but we've showed our team has all the belief in each other and in our group to dial it in when we need to and play the right style of hockey to get the win."
On an early power play, the Sabres broke the ice when Victor Olofsson beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a blistering far-side snipe from inside the right circle to make it 1-0 at 6:27 of the first period.
Sent to a power play of their own, the Panthers got that goal back when Claude Giroux one-timed a sweet pass from Jonathan Huberdeau past Dustin Tokarski to make it 1-1 at 8:25.
But just 20 seconds after Giroux's goal, the Sabres regained the lead when former Panther Mark Pysyk fired a shot that clipped off a defender and into the cage to make it 2-1 at 8:45.
Putting the Panthers in a deeper hole, Jeff Skinner scored at 13:35 to make it 3-1.
"It wasn't ideal," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said. "We kind of felt our way through the first period a little bit. It's going to happen once in a while. I thought we started taking over in the second. [The Sabres] were a tired team. Again, it's a little concerning going down 3-1. I didn't think we played poorly, but maybe not at the level we normally play at."
Making it a one-goal game just before the midway point of the second period, Patric Hornqvist, taking a page out of the Miami Heat's playbook, took a pass from Brandon Montour and banked in a shot off Tokarski's back from behind the net to trim Florida's deficit down to 3-2 at 9:30.
Executing again with their five-forward look on the power play, the Panthers climbed back even when Sam Reinhart tipped in a quick point shot from Aleksander Barkov to make it 3-3 at 14:20.
Taking overtime off the table, Bennett hammered in a centering feed from Barkov past Tokarski from right on the doorstep with 37.3 seconds left in the third period to lock down the 4-3 victory.
The best team in the NHL on home ice, Florida owns a 30-6-0 record in Broward County.
"We want to try to get better every game because we've got a big stretch here coming up," Hornqvist said. "[We want to] make sure we do the right things. I think in the second and third we played pretty good hockey. The first period, if that happens in the playoffs, we lose this game. We have to learn from it."
With 11 games left in the regular season, the Panthers will visit the Predators on Saturday.
Here are five takeaways from Friday's win in Sunrise…

1. GIROUX GETTING COMFY

The goals are starting to flow for Giroux.
Lightning the lamp for the second straight game, the deadline acquisition showed off his scoring touch when he buried a heavy one-timer on the man advantage to make it 1-1 in the first period.

"He's a leader and he works so hard on both sides of the puck," Hornqvist said. "He's a shorter version of Barky. When you have those two up the middle and even putting one of the side, we have a dangerous team. He's been fitting in well. Nice to see him score a few goals here lately."
Fitting in nicely in Florida, Giroux, who was dealt to the Panthers after spending 1,000 games with the Flyers, has notched 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in nine games since the move.
In five of those nine games, he's registered multiple points.

2. PUCKS ON NET

Always put pucks on net … even if you're behind the net.
Jumpstarting a momentum shift in Florida's favor in the second period, Hornqvist, doing damage in the dirty areas like he always does, fired a shot from behind the net that clipped off Tokarski's back and trickled into the cage to slice the deficit down to 3-2 and bring the building back to life.

Earning a goal in two of his last three games, Hornqvist has upped his point total on the season to 25 (11 goals, 14 assists). In addition to his timely goal, he chipped in one hit and one block during tonight's victory, while also owning a team-leading 76.47 CF% when play was at 5-on-5.
Over the 10:52 he was on the ice, Buffalo registered just one shot on goal.

3. REIN ON A ROLL

When in doubt on the power play, just send the puck in Reinhart's general direction.
Tying the game for the Panthers on the man advantage in the second period, the skilled forward made it a 3-3 contest when he dug in at the top of the crease and tipped in a shot from Barkov.

"We moved the puck around really well tonight," Brunette said of the power play. "We kind of got rewarded last game with broken plays. I really liked our attack mentality the last couple games. You've got Reino around the net and stuff like that. … It's nice that they're getting rewarded."
In the midst of his first season with the Panthers, Reinhart, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Sabres, has already set new career-highs marks in goals (27) and points (70).
Third on the Panthers in points, he paces the team with a career-high 13 goals on the power play, including netting three over his last two games. Thanks in part to his contributions around the crease, Florida has gone 6-for-11 (54.6%) with the extra attacker over the last three games.

4. FLIPPING THE SWITCH

Over the final 40 minutes of tonight's game, the Panthers were in full control.
Looking at the numbers over at NaturalStatTrick.com, they led the Sabres 49-25 in shot attempts, 28-5 in scoring chances and 3-0 in goals over the second and third periods.
"We stayed as a group," Brunette said. "We kind of rallied and we didn't change too much. There was belief that if we do these things we're going to come back and score our goals."
Earning their "Comeback Cats" nickname, the Panthers have 25 comeback wins this season.

5. BENNY'S BIG GOAL

Bennett clearly just loves playing at FLA Live Arena.
Netting his team-best 21st goal of the season at home, the grizzled forward helped the Panthers complete their stalwart comeback when he buried the game-winning goal late in the third period.

Hitting multiple milestones, that tally was the 100th goal and 200th point of his career. "First and foremost, getting the game-winning goal is the most important," said Bennett, a smile cracking through his beard.
"Obviously, it was a great feeling scoring the 100th [goal] as well."
In the midst of his first full season in South Florida, Bennett, who has tallied multiple points in three of his last six outings, has already reached new career-highs in goals (27) and points (45).

BONUS: MORE HISTORY FOR HUBY

It's a day that ends in "y," so Huberdeau must've done something historic.
With the primary assist on Giroux's goal in the first period, the all-star winger extended his point streak to 10 games, making him just the second player in franchise history achieve two separate point streaks of at least 10 games in the season, with the other being Pavel Bure in 1999-00.
As of right now, Huberdeau ranks second in the NHL in points (103) and first in assists (77).