At the Horn | Panthers 4 - Sabres 0

The Buffalo Sabres couldn’t solve goaltender Vitek Vanecek as they lost 4-0 to the Florida Panthers on Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena.

Buffalo’s third shutout loss of the season extended its winless streak to six games (0-5-1). Florida, meanwhile, earned its third shutout victory in the last four games.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen got his third straight start in net for Buffalo and made 31 saves on 34 shots.

A.J. Greer, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell and Sam Bennett scored Florida’s goals and Nate Schmidt tallied a pair of primary assists. Vanecek made his Panthers debut and stopped all 21 shots he faced.

Josh Norris, acquired Friday from Ottawa, made his Sabres debut and skated 20:27 – third most among Buffalo forwards.

• Read: Norris embracing fresh start with Sabres

With forwards Jordan Greenway and Jiri Kulich scratched due to illness, Isak Rosen (12:51 TOI) and Josh Dunne (7:16) entered the lineup after being recalled from Rochester on Saturday morning. It marked Dunne’s Sabres debut and his first NHL game since April 11, 2023.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Period

Greer opened the scoring for Florida at the 7:20 mark in the first period, tapping in a rebound that had trickled behind Luukkonen in the crease.

Vanecek denied Peyton Krebs on a breakaway shortly after, but the sequence produced a Lundell tripping penalty and Buffalo’s first power play. The Sabres came up empty despite generating some late pressure on the man advantage.

Second Period

Alex Tuch hit the post two minutes into the second, marking Buffalo’s best chance of the period.

Midway through, an extended offensive-zone shift by the Panthers produced a Verhaeghe goal on a well-screened shot from up high, doubling Florida’s lead.

Nico Sturm and Greer broke out for a 2-on-0 rush with six minutes remaining, but Luukkonen denied Sturm’s shot to keep the Sabres within two goals.

Lundell made it 3-0 at 17:09, though, pouncing on another loose puck near the goal line.

The Sabres matched their nine shots on goal from the first period but couldn’t crack Vanecek.

Third Period

An early-period, post-whistle scrum resulted in a fight between Dunne and Greer. Dunne, listed at 6-foot-4, got a few solid punches in before he and the 6-foot-3 Greer dragged one another to the ice. The sequence also yielded an Aaron Ekblad roughing penalty which resulted in an unsuccessful Sabres power play.

Zach Benson had a breakaway out of the box after Buffalo killed his late-period high-sticking minor, but he missed the net wide on a backhand attempt.

Buffalo pulled Luukkonen with 2:50 remaining, and Bennett potted an empty netter with 33 seconds remaining to lock in a 4-0 final.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

GAME PHOTOS

POSTGAME SOUND

UP NEXT

The Sabres return home to host the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Tickets are available here.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7, and the game is exclusively available for streaming on ESPN+ and Hulu.