While it was the Panthers that came our firing, the Sabres managed to open the scoring when Alex Tuch collected a stretch pass from Henri Jokiharju before getting around a defender and slipping the puck through Spencer Knight's five-hole on a breakaway to make it 1-0 at 10:35 of the first period.
Picking up his first goal of the season and the 100th point of his NHL career, Colin White pulled the Panthers even when he teed up a quick pass from Eetu Luostarinen and blasted a rising one-timer over Eric Comrie's glove into the top of the cage from the slot to make it 1-1 at 14:03.
Finding the back of the net in his second straight game, Matthew Tkachuk briefly put the Panthers on top 2-1 when he powered through several Sabres before tapping in a rebound at 18:09. Just 42 seconds later, Zemgus Girgensons got the game squared up again when he beat Knight with a laser of a shot to make it 2-2.
"He's around everything, that man," Maurice said of Tkachuk, who later added an assist for his first multi-point game with Florida. "He's involved, to say the least. That's his game. There's no show going on. That's just who he is. He's involved in every scrum, most of the hits, and a goal a game so far."
After logging seven scoring chances on the power play in the first period, the Panthers were rewarded on the man advantage in the second when Aaron Ekblad, who scored a team-high three power-play goals in 2021-22, sniped a shot past Comrie to make it 3-2 at 2:31.
Helping keep that lead intact, Knight turned in an early entry for the NHL's save of the season when he rapidly lunged from the right to the left in order to fly across the crease just in time to rob Jeff Skinner of what looked like an absolute surefire goal from on the doorstep.
"Honestly, it's just one of those things where the guy made a great play to him to put it backdoor and it was a good shot," said Knight, recalling the wild sequence. "It's just desperation mode at that point. You don't really think. I don't really think about it. It's just another save."
On the power play, Brandon Montour picked up some loose change after Tkachuk's drive to the net was denied by Comrie and sent the puck into the cage from the slot to make it 4-2 at 17:45. With 59 seconds left in the period, Rasmus Dahlin scored to trim Buffalo's deficit down to 4-3.
Putting on a defensive masterclass in the third period, the Panthers clamped things down and surrendered just five shots on goal over the final 20 minutes. In that time, the penalty kill came up in the clutch with a massive kill on an extended 5-on-3 power-play opportunity for the Sabres. Never taking their foot off the gas, the Panthers then used their strong forecheck to keep the Sabres pinned in their own zone and unable to pull Comrie until roughly a minute was left on the clock. By then, Buffalo didn't have time to muster much of a last-ditch attack.
Earning his first win of the season, Knight finished with 24 saves.
"I thought we got stronger in the defensive parts of the game as the game went," Maurice said. "The last 10 minutes -- from the 5-on-3 kill straight until the end of the game -- we played our best defensive hockey."
