Sabres' point streak ends at 8 as comeback falls short vs. Panthers

Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson scored power-play goals less than two minutes apart to spark a rally, but the Sabres' comeback effort fell short in a 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Sunday.
Buffalo trailed 4-1 before the goals from Skinner and Thompson, the latter of which made it a 4-3 game with 8:41 remaining in the third period.
The comeback was snuffed out by a pair of penalties - tripping against Thompson and hooking against Mattias Samuelsson - which kept the Sabres shorthanded for the final 2:57 and set the table for a 5-on-3 goal by Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar.

"If it wasn't for the two penalties late, the game could have got tied up and been really interesting," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "… We definitely were able to swing momentum."

The loss snapped an eight-game point streak for the Sabres, who were coming off an emotional victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday. They won that game in front of a raucous sellout crowd, energized by a ceremony in which Rick Jeanneret's banner was unveiled in the KeyBank Center rafters.
Kyle Okposo likened the experience to Buffalo's win in the Heritage Classic on March 13, which was followed four days later with a 6-1 loss to Edmonton.
"It was an emotional game Friday," Okposo said. "A very emotional game. The last time we had one of those we went out Edmonton and laid an egg, and I thought tonight we did a good job of coming out and being ready to play."

Okposo tipped a shot from the point by Samuelsson to put the Sabres on the board late in the first period. The Sabres finished the opening 20 minutes with a 10-9 advantage in shots.
The Panthers - the NHL's only team averaging four goals per game entering Sunday - took hold of the contest with a second-period surge. Jonathan Huberdeau finished an odd-man rush to put them on the board early in the period. Anton Lundell and Anthony Duclair scored goals 66 seconds apart to send them into the intermission with a 3-1 lead.
Duclair added his second goal during the opening minute of the third period to increase the lead to 4-1.
"They got a real skilled team," Skinner said. "The margin for error's really, really small. Pretty much zero. Just a couple miscues."

Skinner ignited the comeback effort with a goal that was initially disallowed on the ice. Alex Tuch shot from the side of the net and the ensuing rebound created havoc in the blue paint. Skinner buried his put-back attempt while Panthers goalie Spencer Knight laid outside the crease.
Officials initially ruled that Casey Mittelstadt - who was in the blue paint - interfered with Knight. Video review showed that Mittelstadt was pushed into the goaltender by Panthers defenseman Ben Chiarot and the call on the ice was overturned.
Thompson scored his 31st goal of the season 2:54 later, set up by a no-look pass from Skinner.

"Our response in the third was pretty good, but, obviously, it's just not enough," Skinner said.
The Sabres played the bulk of their eight-game point streak against opponents in position to make the playoffs, including Pittsburgh, Washington, Calgary, and Nashville.
Their loss to the Panthers was the first of six straight games against the Eastern Conference's top four teams in terms of points percentage. The Sabres host Hurricanes on Tuesday, then have a four-game road trip with stops in Carolina, Florida, Tampa, and Toronto.
"That's six games against elite opponents and I think that as a young group, as a group that's trying to build something here, these are important games for us," Okposo said. "I'm looking forward to seeing how we come out and how we play.
"… In the past, March and April haven't been kind to us. I think, obviously we had a good March, and we got some pretty good wins against some good teams. I've been on the record saying I don't think there's a big carry-over effect (season to season), but this feels a bit different."

Up next

The homestand concludes against the Hurricanes on Tuesday. Tickets are available here.
The game will be televised exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m.