Panthers defeat Sabres, move into tie for 1st wild card in East

SUNRISE, Fla. --Alex Lyon made 39 saves for the Florida Panthers in a 2-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at FLA Live Arena on Tuesday.

"A lot of credit goes to the [defensemen] because not all 40-shot games are equal," said Lyon, who made 18 saves in the third period. "We did as good a job as I have seen. They made my life simple and kept me in it after a rough start. I was happy to bounce back, and we just have to keep moving forward. But that said, we don't have the time to really think about it too much."

Matthew Tkachuk scored, and Brandon Montour had two assists for the Panthers (40-31-7), who have won four in a row and moved into a tie with the New York Islanders for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who lost 5-1 at the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
Devon Levi made 34 saves in his second NHL start, and Dylan Cozens scored for the Sabres (37-32-7), whose five-game point streak (4-0-1) ended.
Buffalo trails the Panthers and Islanders by six points in the wild card race.
"Someone just mentioned to me we had nine guys in the lineup under 23 compared to one under 23 [for the Panthers]," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "So, there's a difference there. And for our guys, they just have to go through it. And I think they're better for it.
"I know they're ultracompetitive. You can't hang your head, you got to move right on. That was disappointing tonight, but I still fully believe we have a chance and I think our guys do. And there's more meaningful games ahead, starting with Thursday [at the Detroit Red Wings]. We move on to that quick but take some experience from this one, without question."
Tkachuk gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 59 seconds of the third period when he deflected Montour's shot from the point for his 39th goal of the season.
"I think it is just easier playing with the lead, so getting that second goal, giving ourselves a lead was huge for us," Tkachuk said. "It was pretty even and just back-and-forth. Both goalies were great. We capitalized on strong, hard plays in the third and Lyon made some big saves."

The Sabres appeared open the scoring on a goal by Alex Tuch at 3:41 of the first period, but video review determined Tuch preceded the puck into the offensive zone.
Cozens then gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 8:58 with a shot from the right face-off circle.
Aaron Ekblad tied it 1-1 at 15:47 with a power-play goal when his shot from the left circle deflected off the post and off Levi's back.
Levi stopped Tkachuk on a breakaway with 5:38 left in the third period to keep it 2-1.
"I thought there was good compete," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "Both teams had tension on them, and you could feel it in how they moved the puck. You had the third- and fifth-highest scoring teams in the League playing goalies who are third and fourth on their depth charts and two of the best players on the ice were the goalies. It was a goalie duel. Both guys made big saves, scrambled and found pucks."

The game ended with Buffalo playing 6-on-3 for the final 12.8 seconds after it pulled Levi and two Florida players were in the penalty box.
"Yeah, it's a tough one," Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said. "You could feel the magnitude of the game throughout the whole thing. They just scored one more goal than we did. I mean, it was tight the whole way. It wasn't a whole lot of breakdowns when we tried to press at the end, but yeah, it's a tough one."
NOTES: Lyon won his seventh game of the season. He had seven wins in a combined 24 games in his previous five NHL seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes. … Montour's 14th multipoint game of the season is the second-highest total for a Panthers defenseman behind Ekblad's 16 last season. … Tkachuk has six points (four goals, two assists) in the past three games. … Buffalo center Tage Thompson played 17:18 and had an assist and two shots on goal after missing three games with an upper-body injury. He is the first Sabres player to reach 90 points since Daniel Briere (95, 2006-07). … Rasmus Dahlin got his 54th assist to tie John Van Boxmeer (1981-82) for the second-most by a Sabres defenseman in a single season behind Phil Housley (60, 1989-90).