The Buffalo Sabres have been on an incredible run as of late after winning 13 of their last 14 games. However, they were set to play the defending Stanley Cup champion on Monday night in a game that was expected to be hard-fought.
It was exactly that, but the Sabres were on the wrong side as the Panthers would win 4-3 with an empty net goal by A.J. Greer to seal the win. This was a game that the Sabres were seemingly chasing all game, as the Panthers would score first, and the best the Sabres could do was to tie it up until the Panthers pushed it to a two-goal lead with the empty-net goal.
These were four takeaways from the game for the Buffalo Sabres against the Florida Panthers.
Buffalo Sabres make interesting decision in net for this game
With four games over the next six nights, the Buffalo Sabres were going to need to have both Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Colten Ellis start for them over this stretch. However, after the way Luukkonen played against the Ducks and winning four of his last five starts, this seemed like a game he would start.
Instead of Luukkonen, the Sabres decided to go with Colten Ellis, which might be a little surprising against a Florida Panthers team that has struggled but still can pile on the goals quickly. Ellis started the game shaky by allowing two goals in the first period, with the second one being a shot that he absolutely should have saved.
He would settle down and keep the Sabres in the game, which was great to see, but Luukkonen still might have been the better choice for this game. It is worth noting, and this could have factored into Ruff's decision for this game, but Luukkonen is 0-4-2 in six starts against the Panthers with a goals against average over three.
With back-to-back games against the Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens, then the Minnesota Wild two days later, it will be interesting to see what the split is for the two goaltenders over this three-game stretch.
Zach Benson with his fifth goal of the season, moved up to the top line mid-game
Zach Benson has had a weird season that began with him missing the first three games of the season after an injury during practice. During most of training camp, Benson was playing on the top line with Tage Thompson but by the time he returned, lines were already starting to be shuffled.
On Monday night, Benson began the game on the line with Ryan McLeod and Jack Quinn, which is the line he has been playing on for the past few games. However, Lindy Ruff made a change towards the end of the second period by moving him up and replacing Peyton Krebs.
Benson seemed to fit in perfectly and delivered a goal after being able to push it across the line on a rebound off Tage Thompson's shot. That is now his fifth goal in 14 games after not having a single goal in his first 17 games of the season.
Buffalo Sabres do a good job playing a gritty game against the Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers don't have a flashy game; they will try to play a physical game that can grind out the win. Tage Thompson and Josh Doan knew this coming in, as they were seen pre-game joking if they had their "big boy" pants on.
This was probably why the Buffalo Sabres elected to have Josh Dunne active for this game in place of Noah Ostlund. For most of the game, the Sabres did a great job matching the intensity and the physicality that the Panthers were giving to them.
The fourth line in particular did a good job making their presence known in this one. Beck Malenstyn was second on the team in hits with five, while Dunne made his presence known by dropping the gloves in the second right before the Sabres tied it up at two.
The margin of error was so small in this game, but it was good to see the physicality the Sabres brought and were basically able to match the Panthers in this category.
Buffalo Sabres power play once again a non-factor
As much as the hope is that the power play is going to turn around, it once again was non-existent, and this time it was the difference in the outcome of this game. The Panthers were able to capitalize on one of their two power play goals, with Sam Reinhart scoring early in this game.
Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres had two power play opportunities and weren't able to convert either. In fact, they didn't even really threaten, as Sergei Bobrovsky didn't have one single power play save.
The hope was that Jason Zucker's return recently could help turn this group around, but there are bigger issues that need to be addressed to fix the power play. The Sabres will now look to re-group as they are set to play the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night at home.