The Buffalo Sabres continued their strong performance with a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Friday. This victory marked their second consecutive win since returning from the Olympic break and moved them into second place in the Atlantic Division, holding a tiebreaker over the Detroit Red Wings. The Sabres are now five points ahead of the closest non-playoff team, the Washington Capitals, with 23 games left in the regular season.
The game was tied at 1-1 in the third period before Beck Malenstyn scored on a point shot through traffic with just over eight minutes remaining. Peyton Krebs later added an empty-net goal, while Florida scored their second goal in the final minute.
“I just thought we stuck to our game plan the whole game,” said alternate captain Alex Tuch, who also contributed a power-play goal.
Throughout the game, Buffalo demonstrated consistent habits such as puck support across all areas of play, winning one-on-one battles, and active defensemen supported by forwards rotating back defensively. These elements have contributed to their recent success.
Buffalo took an early lead when Tuch scored on a power play late in the first period. Despite several opportunities to extend that lead—including missed chances by Mattias Samuelsson—the Sabres maintained pressure throughout. They outshot Florida 47-27 at even strength through two periods but conceded a tying power-play goal after Michael Kesselring was penalized for hooking.
Tuch commented on his team’s persistence: “I don’t think we got away from our game. We kept staying on pressure. I thought we were really good in support, we were physical, we played really good, solid D and didn’t give them too many clean looks.”
Malenstyn’s go-ahead goal came after Josh Doan forced a turnover and initiated an offensive rush. As Doan changed lines during play, Malenstyn entered unnoticed and capitalized on open space at the blue line for his decisive shot.
“Put the head down, hit it hard,” Malenstyn said about his scoring effort.
The Panthers challenged for goaltender interference following contact between Samuelsson’s stick and goalie Daniil Tarasov’s glove outside of the crease area; however, after review, officials upheld Malenstyn’s goal.
“When I looked at it I thought it was a goal,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “Maybe I’m biased. But [Samuelsson] wasn’t in the crease, his stick was out in front trying to deflect it, and their goalie was reaching for it.”
With this result, Buffalo won three out of four games against Florida this season—even as last year’s Stanley Cup champions played without captain Aleksander Barkov but otherwise had much of their championship roster available.
“We’re comfortable and confident in those scenarios that our team’s going to do what we need to do to win hockey games,” Malenstyn said. “And that only comes from experience and it comes from doing those right things consistently.”
Goaltender Alex Lyon made 27 saves against his former team for his third win versus Florida this season. He played an important role early by stopping key scoring attempts during penalty kills and maintaining composure under pressure—a reflection of Buffalo’s depth at goaltending alongside Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Colten Ellis.
“I think all three of us are committed to winning and whoever gets the call is going to put forth their best effort,” Lyon said.
Tuch’s power-play tally resulted from coordination with Ryan McLeod: “It was a play that we’ve kind of been working on, so I’m glad it went in,” Tuch noted. McLeod registered his twentieth point over nineteen games—two assists short of matching last season’s career high.
Krebs’ empty-netter placed him among nine players tied for most empty-net goals league-wide this year alongside names like Alex Ovechkin and Nikita Kucherov.
The Sabres will conclude their road trip Saturday against Tampa Bay Lightning; coverage begins at 6:30 p.m., with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
