In Buffalo, Linus Ullmark took matters into his own and hands and made 32 saves to help the Sabres to a 3-2 win over the visiting Florida Panthers on Saturday night.
It wasn’t easy, the Panthers struck twice in the third to close a 0-3 deficit, but Ullmark closed the door for the win.
Sam Reinhart had a goal and assist in Sabres win – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Mike Matheson and Evgenii Dadonov were the Panthers’ strikers in the third.
“As soon as we got a goal, I felt like we had a chance to get something out of this game, and I think that was going on the whole game,” Florida coach Joel Quenneville said. “We were there, we were there, but we weren’t just clicking. With being around the net, we didn’t have enough guys playing their best. We were still there. But it was a great opportunity. It was a disappointing game to let it get away without nothing happening.”
Henri Jokiharju put the Sabres up 1-0 in the first period.
“He just has been somebody who is looking for those opportunities to join the rush, but he does it in a really smart way,” Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger said. “He pretty well never gets caught in behind or lost in the play and he’s able to keep his momentum going when he does attack. So it was good to see him get some fruits for that hard labor he’s bringing us without the puck.”
Sam Reinhart and Conor Sheary also scored for Buffalo.
“We feed off each other,” Sheary said. “I think he likes to play with a lot of speed, as do I. We play a lot of give-and-goes, and with [Jimmy Vesey] working out there too, I think our line just has some good chemistry right now.”
[WATCH: All Panthers vs. Sabres highlights]
Sergei Bobrovsky got the made and made four saves and yielded three goals. Not surprisingly, he was given the hook in favor of Chris Driedger.
“I think we should play like that the whole game,” Aleksander Barkov said. “Like we are aggressive in every zone, everywhere we go to the pucks first. In the third period, we want to win. Want to come back, we want to score goals. And that’s how we need to play all 60 minutes, not just third period.”
Driedger made 11 saves in the mop up duty.
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