Florida Defeats Sabres For 4th Staight Win

The Panthers went into Buffalo on a three game winning streak and for the first time in a while they were out shot but the result was the same as Florida extended their winning streak to four games.

The Sabres were looking to redeem themselves after the 7-2 thrashing they took at the hands of the Panthers a couple of nights ago. Buffalo did play better and out shot Florida 27-23 but it was the Panthers who once again came out on top.

Florida got the only goal of the first period on Owen Nolan's 14th goal of the year at 15:17 from Stephen Weiss and Petr Bondra. The Panthers took the 1-0 lead into the second period.

Patrik Stephen gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead at 9:32 of the second period and Yanick Lehoux made it 3-0 at 15:37 when he deflected a shot from Sean Hill.

The Sabres tried to make a comeback in the third period and cut the lead to 2-1 on Toni Lydman's 4th goal of the year at 8:22. Bondra was the recipient of a nice pass from Stephen Weiss at 13:51 to give Florida a 4-1 lead.

Buffalo never gave up in this game and Yuri Butsayev cut the lead to 4-2 on a late power play goal at 18:56 while the Panthers Yanick Lehoux was in the box for an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. That was as close as the Sabres would get and the Panthers won their 4th straight game and second against the Sabres in their current winning streak.

Next up for Florida is the mighty Carolina Hurricanes.