Peyton Krebs has been the hot hand when the Buffalo Sabres have needed an empty-goal this season. Against the Florida Panthers on Monday, he helped to ensure it wouldn’t come to that.
Krebs had a goal and two assists, the last of which gave the Sabres a late cushion in their 5-3 win over the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Sabres improved to 21-4-1 since Dec. 9, the winningest 26-game stretch in franchise history. They now lead the Panthers by 10 points in the standings, with one final matchup between the two teams due up in Florida later this month.
Buffalo trailed 2-0 before Krebs was bumped to the top line and made a pair of plays to even the score in the first period. Krebs first set up a Tage Thompson goal, then raced to the back side of the Florida net to bury a feed from Rasmus Dahlin for the tying goal.
Zach Benson scored to put the Sabres ahead in the second period, only for the Panthers to respond with a late power-play goal from Uvis Balinskis.
Josh Doan set up Jason Zucker for the winning power-play goal in the third period. The Sabres had to kill two late penalties – which overlapped for 1:07 of 5-on-3 play in favor of the Panthers – before Krebs finally set up a late Doan goal on the rush with 2:09 left to play.
Alex Lyon made a season-high 38 saves for the win.
Benson left the game after he was tripped by Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky on a third-period scoring chance, sending the Sabres forward hard into the boards. He returned for one shift but was unable to remain in the game.
The win opened up a back-to-back set of Atlantic Division road games, which continues Tuesday in Tampa.
