BUFFALO – The Florida Panthers were blanked by a familiar face on Saturday afternoon as Alex Lyon pitched a 32-save shutout to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-0 win at KeyBank Center.
Missing several star players to start the season, the Panthers now sit at 3-4-0.
“I think it’s been the last couple games for us,” forward Sam Reinhart said. “I’d say we’re working; we’re just not working hard to the net-front to make as difficult on them as possible. We know what he (Lyon) is capable of. We’ve seen him win multiple games for our side. Give him credit tonight, but there’s certainly areas that we’d like to improve.”
After the Panthers came up empty on two power plays, the Sabres broke the ice on their first trip to the man advantage when Josh Doan tipped a shot from Tage Thompson past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 at 7:13 of the first period with his first goal of the season.
Already without Dmitry Kulikov (upper body) for the next five months, the Panthers lost another big piece of their blue line in the second period when Niko Mikkola went crashing into the boards after getting tied up with a Sabres skater while chasing down the puck.
Briefly serving a penalty, Mikkola soon went down the tunnel and did not return.
“We’ll get a better look at him tomorrow,” head coach Paul Maurice said.
Helping keep the deficit to just one goal, Bobrovsky robbed Sabres star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin on a shot from the slot just after the midway point of the second period.
A scrappy game soon turned violent when Dahlin cross-checked Brad Marchand away from the puck in Florida’s zone. Moments later, Dahlin tried to put the body on Marchand, but missed and fell to the ice. Having had enough, Marchand then started to pummel Dahlin.
Despite Dahlin starting the sequence, the Sabres ended up on the power play.
Cashing in for a second time on the man advantage, Doan then re-directed a centering feed from Jason Zucker past Bobrovsky to double the lead for Buffalo and make it 2-0 at 11:12.
Not letting the Panthers regroup, the Sabres continued to press the attack from that point on lit the lamp again just over three minutes later when defenseman Owen Power joined the rush and deposited a nifty tape-to-tape feed from Alex Tuch to make it 3-0 at 14:20.
Continuing to be tested, Bobrovsky denied Peyton Krebs on a breakaway late in the period.
Missing out on a chance to cut into their deficit, the Panthers couldn’t capitalize on a power play to start the third period, with Lyon making two important saves on the penalty kill.
Despite firing off 15 shots on goal, Florida went 0-for-7 on the power play.
“We put up 15 and didn’t get there,” Maurice said. “We certainly came out with the mentality of shooting the puck tonight, which we didn’t think we had enough of.”
Even with 4.53 expected goals, the Panthers ended up with zero by the final horn.
Not to be overshadowed by Lyon’s shutout, Bobrovsky was also strong again with 28 saves.
“It’s never easy,” Bobrovsky said of Florida’s four-game losing streak. “This league is so challenging. Every team, every organization, they have good players. The challenge is so high. We didn’t expect we’d win all 82 games. You’re going to face some challenges.”
After enduring a tough schedule to start the season, the Panthers can now reset.
Closing out their trip, they won’t play against until facing the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
“When you’re not playing the way you want, you’ll take everything as a positive,” Maurice said. “We need the two days rest. That’s seven games in 10 and a half days to start for us. It’ll be good to get off, get a practice in.”
THEY SAID IT
“He was good. We’ve seen him play those games before. We had some action around the net, and he made some good saves.” – Paul Maurice on Alex Lyon’s performance
“It’s not really going in for anyone right now. I think I’d like a little more urgency, a little bit more assertiveness out of everybody. It’s almost like when it’s not going your way, especially early on in the year, you start deferring, you start hoping when you get in the offensive zone that something’s going to work out as opposed taking the bull by the horns.” – Sam Reinhart on Florida’s recent offensive struggles
“We’re missing the big guys, but on the other hand other guys have the opportunity to step up and make their way in the team and in the league. It’s a good opportunity for them. The structure is there. We have great guys. It’s all in our hands.” – Sergei Bobrovsky on overcoming adversity
CATS STATS
- The Panthers had 17 high-danger shot attempts, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
- Florida controlled 68.57% of 5-on-5 shot attempts when Sam Reinhart was on the ice.
- Anton Lundell wont a team-high 11 faceoffs.
- Mackie Samoskevich recorded a team-high seven shots on goal.
- Aaron Ekblad blocked a team-high four shots.
- The Panthers had 20 of their shots blocked by Buffalo.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Looking to end their five-game road trip on a high note, the Panthers will face another tough divisional test when they visit the Bruins at TD Garden on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The official watch party will be at Funky Buddha Brewery in Oakland Park.
