RECAP: Panthers fall in tough battle with Sabres

BUFFALO, NY – The Florida Panthers evened the score three separate times, but came up just short in the 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Monday at KeyBank Arena.

With the loss, the Panthers sit at 2-2-2.

“I thought we played pretty well, but they got a couple goals, and we were behind and just couldn't get the puck in today,” Anton Lundell said after the game.

Breaking the ice for the Sabres, Josh Doan scored on the rush to make it 1-0 at 5:58.

Answering back at 11:00, Lundell made it 1-1 after winning a battle out in front of the net to get one by Colton Ellis.

Getting a chance on the power play, Rasmus Dahlin scored on a one timer to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead at 15:55.

Coming in for Jacob Markstrom, Akira Schmid took over the crease at the start of the second period.

Per head coach Paul Maurice, it doesn’t sound like there should be an injury concern.

“He just tightened up, so we pulled him,” said Maurice. “We'll see. We don't think there's an injury there.”

Netting an equalizer on the power play, Sam Reinhart tapped in a loose puck at 6:26 to make it 2-2.

Putting the Sabres back on top, Ryan McLeod made it 3-2 at 11:25.

Yet again in the period, Reinhart brought the score back to even.

Burying his second power play of the goal, Reinhart made it 3-3 after a between the legs pass from Brady Tkachuk at 13:41.

“Really good patience,” Reinhart said of the play. “That's obviously where he's most comfortable, so just try and find a soft area for him.”

His 32nd multi goal game with Panthers, Reinhart passed Pavel Bure and Olli Jokinen for the second most in franchise history, and sits behind only Aleksander Barkov (33).

Retaking the lead for the Sabres in the third period, Noah Ostlund scored on the power play at 7:15 to make it 4-3.

Extending the lead for Buffalo, and getting the final goal of the game, Tage Thompson made it 5-3 at 13:20.

“Our power play was good and overall, we played pretty strong,” said Lundell. “We can obviously do some things better and try to stay out of the box a bit more.”

THEY SAID IT

“He’s born to score goals, so I was happy to see that.” – Anton Lundell on Sam Reinhart

“Being on the road again, and being by the guys, you pick up quite a bit.” – Akira Schmid on settling in with the Panthers

“They were just way faster and got some confidence.” – Paul Maurice on power play’s success against the Sabres

CATS STATS

- Brady Tkachuk had a team high seven hits.

- Seth Jones led the Panthers with four shots.

- Sam Reinhart had 20:27 time on ice.

- The Panthers went 2/4 on the power play.

- Akira Schmid made 18 saves.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Right back at it.

The Panthers will close out their back-to-back in Ohio against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. ET.

To watch on Panthers Plus, click HERE.