BUFFALO, NY. (WKBW) — The Buffalo Sabres scored five goals against the defending NHL Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers to earn their first win of the season on Saturday night at the KeyBank Center.
1st Period
Out of the gates, you could tell Buffalo had some intention with the way they wanted to start this game. Although Florida out shot them in the opening period, the team was creating plenty of chances in the offensive zone but just wasn't getting any luck to go their way.
Florida would open up the scoring nine minutes into the period on a goal by Nate Schmidt. More of the same missed opportunities to find a goal would plague the Sabres until later on in the period.
Krebs does a great job of seeing the puck as he's tied up against the wall...gets the puck to the front of the net and Greenway backhands one to tie it up 1-1#Sabres finally get some good fortune offensively
— Dom Tibbetts (@DomTibbettsTV) October 12, 2024
Peyton Krebs' effort along the wall would be rewarded with an assist on the ensuing goal by Jordan Greenway to tie the game up at 1-1.
Jordan Greenway putting in the WORK 😤#LetsGoBuffalo | #sabrehood pic.twitter.com/0YYCiufgN2
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 12, 2024
Then just as the KeyBank Center began to settle down, Tage Thompson off the assists from Alex Tuch and Connor Clifton would score his second goal of the season about 45 seconds later and give Buffalo a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.
Cliffy ➡️ Tuchy ➡️ TAGE 🚨#LetsGoBuffalo | #sabrehood pic.twitter.com/sXD8YplWDg
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 12, 2024
2nd Period
Buffalo wasted no time getting the scoring started in the second period as Henri Jokiharju notched his first goal of the season to make it 3-1 Sabres, about a minute and a half into the period.
Joki with a ROCKET! #LetsGoBuffalo | #sabrehood pic.twitter.com/Ktdxnkv8io
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 13, 2024
More offensive pressure by Buffalo would lead to great results as chaos ensued around the Panthers' net with less than five minutes remaining the puck found its way to the stick of Mattias Samuelsson and into the back of the net to make it 4-1.
SAMMY SHOOTSSAMMY SCORES4-1! pic.twitter.com/aeZVR2SF46
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) October 13, 2024
Florida would get one back on a later power-play goal by Sam Bennett to cut the Sabres lead to 4-2 at the end of the second period.
3rd period
The lone goal of the final 20 minutes came with just 1:12 remaining when Alex Tuch went unassisted on an empty net for his second goal of the year and the fifth Sabres goal of the night.
Buffalo would come away with Lindy Ruff's first win as a head coach since his return in a 5-2 victory over Florida.
Up Next: Buffalo hits the road for a three-game road stand starting on Wednesday in Pittsburgh with a showdown against the Penguins.
