South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Panthers get Hoffman goal with :11 left, salvage point
BUFFALO, N.Y. — On a night the Buffalo Sabres’ top scorers were held in check, Kyle Okposo and his line of grinders came to the rescue.
Okposo set up both goals in regulation before Jack Eichel and Casey Mittelstadt scored in the shootout to help Buffalo match its best start to a season in 10 years with a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
“I’ve never seen a bench cheer so much for another line having success,” coach Ralph Krueger said of how his so-called energy line scored goals 2:33 apart spanning the second intermission to stake Buffalo to a 2-0 lead. “To see all that hard work, the grinding they’ve been doing the first five games paying off was so big tonight.”
It might have been even more satisfying had the Sabres not squandered a two -goal, third-period lead for a second consecutive game. Buffalo blew a 4-2 lead in an eventual 5-4 overtime win over Montreal on Wednesday.
“We just sat back a little bit,” said Okposo, who had the primary assists on goals scored by Johan Larsson and defenseman Marco Scandella. “We just have to find a way to continue to play our game and continue to stay aggressive.”
Zemgus Girgensons also had two assists on a night Buffalo’s potent power play finished 0 for 4. Linus Ullmark finished with 41 saves, with two more in the shootout.
Buffalo improved to 4-0-1 and opened with three straight home wins for the first time since 2008-09.
Mike Hoffman forced overtime by scoring with 11 seconds left. Left open in the right circle, he waited patiently before snapping a shot over Ullmark’s left shoulder.