'We responded well' | Sabres break through against Panthers for 1st win of 2024-25

Jordan Greenway reflected on the last 48 hours as he sat at his stall inside the Buffalo Sabres dressing room on Saturday night, still weary from a hard-fought game.

The Sabres had stayed focused on the process in the days following their home-opener loss to the Los Angeles Kings, when they did just about everything right shy of capitalizing on their many scoring chances. They continued to stick to their game after falling behind early on Saturday against the Florida Panthers, fighting back for a 5-2 victory.

The adversity of an 0-3 start now behind them, the Sabres were finally in the win column.

“Typically, everyone goes through [adversity] at some point and maybe a couple times,” Greenway said. “I think it speaks volumes that (with) the start we had, everything that kind of went on, we stuck to it. I don’t want to go to last game, but we’ve been building our game.

“We’ve been pretty happy about how we’ve been playing overall. Of course, there’s things that we can do better to build, but it was good that we went through what we did. We’re learning from it and we’re becoming a really good team.”

The Sabres had been held to one goal in each of their first three games to start the season, due in part to a string of strong performances from opposing goaltenders. Saturday started similarly, with two strong chances missed in the first five minutes before Nate Schmidt scored for the Panthers at the 10:59 mark of the opening period.

It was Greenway who put the Sabres on the board with 3:14 remaining in the period, their first goal scored during the opening 20 minutes this season. The 6-foot-6 winger received a pass from Peyton Krebs, maintained possession as he cut through traffic in the blue paint, and roofed a backhand shot in behind Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight.

With that, the flood gates were finally open.

Tage Thompson buried a hard wrist shot on the rush to put the Sabres ahead less than a minute after Greenway’s goal. Henri Jokiharju and Mattias Samuelsson extended the lead with second-period goals, and Alex Tuch scored late into an empty net to complete a two-point night.

The Sabres locked the game down in the final period, limiting the Panthers to just four shots. Devon Levi earned the victory in goal with 23 saves.

“It was a tough game,” Greenway said. “That’s a good team that we just played. They didn’t have their full roster, but that’s a really good team that we just played and they made it hard, but I thought we responded well. We played a good game. We did what we needed to do in the third to make sure that we came out with a win and that’s really important.”

The Sabres finished with a 16-5 edge in high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. They led 12-3 in that category against the Kings on Thursday but were held to one goal due to a confluence of circumstances – a hot goaltender and a few shots off the post chiefly among them.

If they continued to play the same way, they believed, results would follow.

“I think that was the message coming into tonight, not to change anything and get frustrated,” Thompson said. “We knew if we just repeated what we did the night before, we’d get results. I think at the end of the day, that’s got to be our mindset going into every game, is not worrying about the results. They’ll take care of themselves. We keep playing hockey like that, we’re going to be in good shape.”

Here's more from the Sabres’ first win of the season.

1. Lindy Ruff expanded on his franchise record with his 572nd win as coach of the Sabres. Watch him address the team postgame in the video below.

Ruff was asked about what the win meant afterward.

“This one was like a stress reliever,” he said. “When you don’t win the previous one, you hope your team doesn’t tighten up. We talked about just staying with the program and we’re going to continue with the program. And we know we’ve got work to do. But I thought our guys were focused in.

“The energy was great on the bench. And I think with a day off coming, getting rewarded for the way we’ve played is a good thing.”

2. Greenway continued his strong all-around start to the season, finishing with five shot attempts, three blocked shots, and a plus-4 rating in addition to his goal.

The faceoff immediately following his goal offered a glimpse of Greenway’s full impact on the game. Greenway and his linemates were left on the ice for the draw, and he delivered a neutral-zone hit that sent Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues to the ice. The Sabres regrouped and pulled ahead on Thompson’s goal seconds later.

“I loved his game away from the puck tonight,” Thompson said. “He’s in guys’ face, he’s getting little holdups on guys making it tough for them to forecheck – that stuff that wears on you over time. Being on the other side of it when you’re getting picked or you don’t have an easy lane on the forecheck or whatever, it frustrates you and is definitely difficult. So, when he’s going like that tonight, it’s definitely a big bonus for our team.”

3. The Sabres dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the game, with Buffalo native Dennis Gilbert stepping into the lineup for his team debut in place of Sam Lafferty.

Ruff said he went into the night with the intention of rolling three forward lines with the benefit of three days to recover ahead of their next game in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. The three trios that played the most were Krebs with Thompson and Tuch; Dylan Cozens centering Jack Quinn and Jiri Kulich; and Greenway alongside Ryan McLeod and Jason Zucker.

Krebs made the most of his first-line opportunity, dishing an assist and three hits in 14:11. Zach Benson opened the night alongside Thompson but is only two games removed from sitting out with a lower-body injury.

“This is just my opinion, I don’t think Benson’s 100 percent,” Ruff said. “He’s playing, but for me he doesn’t look 100 percent yet. So, I just thought we’d give Krebs a look there. I thought he was really good tonight.”

4. The Sabres announced during the first period that Rob Ray will be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame this season. Ray ranks fourth in franchise history with 889 games played as a member of the Sabres and has worked with the team’s broadcast since 2003-04.

Ryan Miller and Dominik Hasek, the two most recent inductees into the Sabres Hall of Fame, made the announcement in a video that aired during the first period. Ray was greeted by his wife and two children in front of the Hall-of-Fame wall between periods.

“It’s a complete honor,” he said. “This has been my life for the last 35 years and I know nothing else. I’ve never had another job. This is me. I don’t know, I’m just so excited. I know I don’t show it sometimes, but I’m trying not to cry in front of everybody because I’ve got to kind of act tough. It’s the greatest thing that could happen. For me, it’s an honor and it’s a privilege to even be named with a lot of those guys on the wall.”

Ruff, who coached Ray from 1997 to 2003, was asked about the honor postgame.

“I think he means everything,” Ruff said. “I mean, he’s been here. He’s been here forever. I think when you look at Rob from a playing career standpoint, he’s the one guy that was there for everybody. He’s the one guy that – I’ll use this line – created a safe working environment for everybody. And everybody enjoys that, right?

“… So, for him to be a Sabre all those years and then get into the broadcast stuff and get in between (the benches), I think his commentating has really grown, his work with RJ. Those two played off each other unbelievable. When you think of Buffalo you think of Rob Ray now, for sure.”