Sabres vs. Panthers: Noah Ostlund's Power-Play Winner Lifts Buffalo in a Four-Goalie Afternoon

Four goalies, eight goals, two teams losing key players and one decisive tap-in at the edge of the crease. Buffalo's Monday matinee had a little bit of everything, and this time the Sabres were the ones smiling at the end of the chaos.

Noah Ostlund broke a 3-3 tie on the power play 7:15 into the third period, Tage Thompson added insurance, and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Florida Panthers 5-3 at KeyBank Center despite losing captain Rasmus Dahlin to an upper-body injury in the second period. Sam Reinhart scored twice for Florida, and Brady Tkachuk picked up his first point as a Panther, but the Sabres never trailed.

Musical Chairs in the Crease

Buffalo struck first. Peyton Krebs hit Josh Doan with a pass on the rush at the Florida blue line, Doan carried it to the right circle and beat Jacob Markstrom with a wrist shot at 5:58 for his first goal of the season.

"I think a little bit of relief to just see something go in the net right now," Doan said.

Florida answered at 11:00. Colten Ellis made a chest save but could not smother the rebound, and Anton Lundell won a puck battle low in the right circle and slipped it between the goalie's pads. Then Dmitry Kulikov went off for holding, and Dahlin made Florida pay at 15:55, ripping a one-timer from above the slot past Markstrom's blocker for a 2-1 lead.

That was the end of Markstrom's afternoon. He allowed two goals on 11 shots and did not come back for the second period. Coach Paul Maurice explained it simply: "He just tightened up, and so we pulled him." Akira Schmid took over.

The second period was a coin flip that kept landing on its edge. Dahlin headed to the locker room early in the period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Reinhart then tied it on the power play at 6:26, poking a loose puck over the line after a Seth Jones shot from the blue line squeezed through Ellis, and Buffalo yanked Ellis after two goals on nine shots. Enter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.

Ryan McLeod put Buffalo back in front at 11:25, breaking in, deking Schmid and sliding a wrist shot past his skate for his first of the season. Reinhart answered again on the power play at 13:41, this time finishing a between-the-legs backhand pass from Brady Tkachuk at the far side of the net. Three goals apiece, three goalies used, and still a full period left.

Turning Point: One Penalty Too Many

Aaron Ekblad's afternoon was rough. After an interference minor in the second, he was called for holding Zach Benson's stick at 6:15 of the third. Exactly one minute later, Benson slipped a pass through the crease and Ostlund snapped it in for a 4-3 lead. Benson was the guy who drew the call and the guy who made the pass. That is how you collect on a debt.

Thompson put it away at 13:20, taking a feed from Owen Power and beating Schmid to the blocker side from the slot. Josh Norris handed Florida two more power plays late, but the Panthers could not find a fourth goal.

Luukkonen Steadies It, Power Runs It

Luukkonen did exactly what a relief goalie is supposed to do. He came in cold early in the second, faced 14 shots and stopped 13 of them over the final 33:34.

"You kind of sometimes don't have the time to overthink it and you have your chance to go there and make a difference in the game," Luukkonen said.

Power was the engine. He had two assists, finished plus-3 and logged 26:31. Krebs and Jack Quinn also had two assists apiece, Thompson finished with a goal and an assist, and NHL.com noted defenseman Olen Zellweger led all players with six shots on goal. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff liked the whole package.

"In the six games so far, that was probably our best hockey game," Ruff said.

For Florida, Reinhart's two goals were the bright spot, along with the Brady Tkachuk assist that gave him his first point in six games with Florida. The former Ottawa captain also threw seven hits and put three shots on goal in 16:32, and Maurice made clear he was not losing sleep over the stat sheet.

"I thought he was close to having that happen five or six times since he's been here, so I haven't spent any time worrying about his points," Maurice said.

Schmid finished with 18 saves on 21 shots in 38:08 of relief work.

Stats That Matter

• 2-for-5: Buffalo's power play. Per the AP, the Sabres had opened the season 1-for-17.
• 2-for-4: Florida's power play, after entering the game 1-for-28, per the AP.
• 42-14: Hits, Florida vs. Buffalo. The Panthers won the physical battle and lost the game.
• 32-23: Shots on goal, Buffalo vs. Florida.
• 4: Goalies who saw action. Everybody got a turn.

What It Means

Buffalo improves to 3-3-0 with six points and 3-2-0 at home, snapping a two-game skid that consisted of home losses to Dallas and Utah. The Sabres wrapped up a five-game homestand and open a three-game road trip at Montreal on Tuesday, but Dahlin will not be with them at the start. Ruff called him day to day.

"They (can) treat him better here. He doesn't have to get on an airplane right now. Obviously, that probably rules him out for tomorrow," Ruff said.

Florida drops to 2-2-2 and has lost two straight, following Saturday's 4-1 home-opening loss to Minnesota. The Panthers have lost four of their last five (1-2-2), and they head straight to Columbus for a Tuesday night game. On Markstrom, Maurice did his best to calm things down: "There's no injury there, we don't think, that we can't deal with. Just standard stuff."

A Win Built on Patience

For a team that had one power-play goal in 17 chances entering the day, the Sabres turned a scrambled afternoon into a statement about special teams and resilience. They lost their captain, burned through two goalies and still never trailed. That is the kind of messy, ugly win that can reset a season, or at least a week.

Ruff summed up the start this way: "I thought it was our best start." The finish was not bad either.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.