Peyton Krebs, Sabres’ Swiss Army Knife, shows all his tools in win over Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. – A couple months ago, Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff described Peyton Krebs as a Swiss Army Knife.

The forward has been versatile, handy, reliable – you name the adjective – all season, and he may have had his best performance yet in a 5-3 Sabres win over the Florida Panthers on Monday at Amerant Bank Arena.

Buffalo pulled 10 points ahead of the two-time reigning champions on the strength of Krebs’ one goal, two assists and seven hits in 19:27 of ice time. He also drew a third-period penalty that led to Jason Zucker’s game-winning goal.

“He was flying, he was winning puck battles, he was good defensively, good on the draw,” forward Alex Tuch said of Krebs, whose three points set a new career high. “I really liked his game tonight. Really well rounded and had a couple big plays for us there, offensively. He was definitely MVP in my eyes tonight.”

Florida led 2-0 after just six minutes; on the first goal, just 37 seconds in, Krebs lost his stick and his coverage. But when Ruff moved him up from the third line to the first, things started clicking for the Sabres. Krebs had the primary assist on a beautiful goal from Tage Thompson, then tipped one past goalie Sergei Bobrovsky on a 4-on-1 rush.

Suddenly, the Sabres were heading to the first intermission tied 2-2.

“We’ve talked about how I can move [Krebs] around and (he can) be pretty effective. I just felt we needed something a little bit more on that top line,” Ruff said. “… We didn’t manage the puck well, but I thought when he got up there, all of a sudden the team got a little bit more energy.”

Added Krebs of the early comeback: “I think all year, last stretch here, we’ve had great resiliency in our game. We know we’re a good hockey team, and we know we can score goals, so just getting into the hockey game – there was still a lot of hockey – and we did that.”

Zach Benson put Buffalo ahead early in the second; Florida’s Uvis Balinskis tied it late. Thanks to Zucker’s power-play tally, the Sabres led when they faced their toughest test of the night: 1:07 of 5-on-3 for the Panthers, with both Rasmus Dahlin and Bowen Byram in the box.

Tuch, Mattias Samuelsson and Owen Power did excellent work to kill it off, limiting Florida to just three unscreened shots on Alex Lyon. As it has all season, Buffalo’s penalty kill came up clutch late in the third period with the game on the line.

“I thought we just took away passing lanes, took away the one-timers, and when we needed to get a big save, Lysy was there to save it,” Tuch said. “… We were ready to do whatever it took to try to win that game.”

Krebs capped off his excellent night on a 2-on-1 rush with two minutes remaining, feeding Josh Doan for some much-needed insurance. In yet another Sabres win – they’ve taken 21 of their last 26 – the sixth-year forward’s versatility was on full display.

“I just try to take pride in being the best, wherever I’m in the lineup,” Krebs said. “If I’m on the fourth line, trying to be the best fourth liner in the league. If you get bumped up to the first line, trying to be the best player in that position. Wherever I am, whoever I’m playing with, I want to try to make better on the ice and compete for them, get them pucks and just allow them to play their best.”

Here's more from a win that has Buffalo (69 points) in the first wild card spot through Monday’s games.

Lyon back in the win column

Lyon’s franchise-record 10-game winning streak was snapped Saturday versus Montreal, and his Monday started poorly with two goals on his first three shots faced. (The second, by Evan Rodrigues, redirected off Zucker’s skate and past Lyon).

From that point on, however, Lyon stopped 37 of 38 shots, and he finished with a season-high 38 saves. Ten of those came on high-danger chances, per Natural Stat Trick.

“Sometimes you have the right mentality, but it takes your body 10 minutes to get into the game,” he said. “Obviously they capitalized early and put us on our heels, but we got desperate.”

Benson exits

Benson crashed hard into the end boards after being taken down on a third-period breakaway. He was helped off the ice, returned for a quick shift, then missed the final 13 minutes with an upper-body injury.

“Just being evaluated,” Ruff said. “Couldn’t finish the game, so we’ll see where he’s at for tomorrow.”

He was tended to on the ice by head athletic trainer Rich Stinziano, whom the team honored postgame for his 1,500th NHL game.

Postgame sound

Up next

The Sabres are back at it Tuesday night in Tampa Bay. Puck drop against the Lightning is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., and the game is streaming exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu.