Buffalo Sabres vs Florida Panthers Match Player Stats On Dec 02, 2021

The Florida Panthers rallied from a three-goal deficit for a 7-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday in Sunrise, Fla.

Sam Reinhart and Jonathan Huberdeau each had a goal and three assists, Aaron Ekblad had two goals and an assist, and Anton Lundell scored twice for the Panthers, who are 13-1-0 at home.

Lucas Carlsson logged a goal and an assist for the Panthers, and Carter Verhaeghe and MacKenzie Weegar each produced two assists.

Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky gave up four goals on 12 shots before being pulled for Spencer Knight, who stopped all 19 shots he faced for the win.

Vinnie Hinostroza scored two goals, Dylan Cozens had a goal and an assist and Casey Mittelstadt also found the net for Buffalo. Aaron Dell made 38 saves.

The Sabres took a 1-0 lead at 3:21 of the first period when Rasmus Dahlin fed a cross-ice pass that Hinostroza converted from the right circle.

Kyle Okposo got his stick on a loose puck at the Florida blue line and dished off to Cozens, who skated to the right circle before beating Bobrovsky glove side, making it 2-0 at 7:41 of the first.

Cozens walked around Joe Thornton down low and sent a pass through the crease to Hinostroza at the left of the net to extend the margin to 3-0 at 14:25 of the opening period.

Carlson got the home side on the board at 9:57 of the second period, cutting the deficit to 3-1.

The Sabres quickly responded. Mittelstadt, in his first game back after missing 21 contests due to an upper-body injury, came down the left wing and beat Bobrovsky five-hole from the bottom of the left circle. The goal made it 4-1 at 11:16 of the second, marking the end of the night for Bobrovsky.

Reinhart, in the slot, redirected another Carlsson shot to narrow the gap to 4-2 at 12:32 of the second.

Just over three minutes later, an uncovered Ekblad at the bottom of the left circle took a seam pass from Huberdeau and beat Dell to make it 4-3.

Ekblad tied it 4-4 on the power play when a shot off the post bounced to him in the left circle, and he converted on the rebound at 1:07 of the third period.

Lundell, in front, gave the Panthers their first lead of the night, 5-4, at 8:05 of the third period.

Huberdeau scored into an empty net with 1:23 remaining to make it 6-4, and Lundell increased the final margin with another empty-net goal with five seconds left.

--Field Level Media