Panthers rout Sabres, 6-1

In Buffalo, the visiting Florida panthers benefited from six goals from six different skaters in a 6-1 win over the Sabres on Monday night.“I liked everything,” Florida coach Andrew Brunette said. “I thought he was really quiet, he was big. I thought his timing on everything was impeccable. … He earned every save he had tonight.”

Spencer Knight lost his shutout big in the third period after the Panthers had taken a 6-0 lead.

John Hayden scored the Sabres lone goal in the 14th minute of the final frame.

Florida had a 1-0 lead after the opening period, and tacked on four more goals in the middle stanza to take control of the contest.

“They came out in the second and they just used their skill, to be honest with you,” Buffalo’s Kyle Okposo said. “They made some really nice plays, and we just couldn’t stop the breakdowns from happening. Left [Anderson] out to dry a little bit.”

Brandon Montour staked the Panthers to the early 1-0 lead.

“Obviously, we didn’t like the results that we had early on (on the road),” Montour said. “Obviously, you know our record at home (25-6-0). We just want to keep that on the road (13-7-5), and there’s no reason that we can’t do it. It’s just we need to keep bearing down that extra, that extra little bit, and lately, we’ve been doing that, so it’s nice.”

Noel Acciari and Anthony Duclair pushed the lead to 3-0 in the second period.

Florida improved to 8-13-5

Carter Verhaeghe  and Patric Hornqvist completed the scoring in the second to make the score, 5-0.

Buffalo fell to 18-32-8.

“The first period was, I don’t know what their shot count was (three), but it wasn’t high,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “And when we gave up a little — the second we gave up too much time and space — we responded with hesitation, a little bit of fear maybe, and that caused hesitation, the fear not to make a mistake.

“You give skill players and a team like that that little bit extra, too much respect, they can make you look foolish at times. I felt that was a big part of it, big part of it. We just took a step back and we were a little too conservative. They can take advantage of that in a heartbeat.”

Aleksander Barkov extended the lead to 6-0 in the third period.

Craig Anderson made 25 saves in the Sabres loss.