Sam Reinhart scored with 1:02 left in overtime as the Florida Panthers defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Reinhart beat his former team with his 55th goal this season and his 10th game-winner of the season. The Panthers clinched home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs, where they will face either the Toronto Maple Leafs or Tampa Bay Lightning.
Over the past three seasons, Florida has defeated Buffalo in 10 of 11 meetings.
Anton Lundell and Kevin Stenlund also scored for the Panthers (51-24-6, 108 points). Stenlund’s goal was his 11th of the season and his second short-handed.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves to improve his record to 36-17-4. He leads Eastern Conference goalies in wins.
Tyson Jost and Jack Quinn scored for the Sabres (38-37-6, 82 points). Buffalo also got 39 saves from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson left the game in the first period with what was later announced as an upper-body injury and did not return.
The Panthers were already down two key players due to injury: defenseman Aaron Ekblad (lower-body injury) and forward Carter Verhaeghe (upper-body injury), who is second on the team with 33 goals.
Saturday’s first period featured four goals — two by each team — and all of them within the game’s opening 10 minutes.
It took Jost just 2:59 to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead on his deflection of a Rasmus Dahlin shot.
The Panthers tied the score just over two minutes later as Matthew Tkachuk dished to Lundell, who found the back of the net on a backhander from the slot.
Both teams scored after Florida’s Nick Cousins was penalized for tripping Dahlin.
First, Stenlund stole a pass from Dahlin and raced in on a breakaway, chipping the puck past Luukkonen.
During that same power play, however, Buffalo tied the score 2-2 on Quinn’s rebound of a Bowen Byram shot from the point.
There were no goals in the second period, although Buffalo had three great chances.
Jeff Skinner had slipped behind Bobrovsky for an apparent goal. But the goalie stuck out his left toe to make a huge save.
Later, Alex Tuch had a breakaway, but he was caught from behind by Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling, who broke up the play.
Finally, when the puck had gotten past Bobrovsky, Panthers forward Sam Bennett swept it off the line with his glove.
After a scoreless third period as well, the Sabres killed off a penalty that carried over into overtime before Reinhart’s winner.
–Field Level Media
