There are wins you frame, and wins you file away with an asterisk and a worried glance at the trainer's room. Buffalo's 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Monday afternoon at KeyBank Center was somehow both at once — an entertaining, back-and-forth, five-goal Sabres performance that the home crowd deserved to enjoy, shadowed by the sight of their captain and best defenseman leaving in the second period and not returning.
Let's take the good first, because there was plenty of it. Then we'll get to the part that had every Sabres fan holding their breath.
A First Period That Set the Tone
Buffalo opened the scoring at 5:58 of the first, when Josh Doan finished a give-and-go with Peyton Krebs to make it 1-0. It was the kind of goal coaches draw up and fans love in person — quick touch, quick return, puck in the net before Florida's coverage could reset.
Florida answered at 11:00. Anton Lundell tied it 1-1 with Aaron Ekblad picking up an assist, a reminder that the Panthers do not need many chances to make a game uncomfortable. For a moment, the afternoon felt like it was settling into a tight, low-event grind.
It did not stay that way. At 15:55 of the first, Rasmus Dahlin stepped into a power-play slap shot and put Buffalo back in front, 2-1. When Dahlin scores like that — a defenseman's goal, heavy and clean, on the man advantage — KeyBank Center gets loud in a particular way. He is not just a player for this franchise. He is the foundation everything else is built around. Remember that goal, and that feeling, because the afternoon was about to turn on what happened to him next.
Buffalo took that 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Florida, notably, changed goalies during it. Jacob Markstrom, who had allowed two goals on 11 shots, exited after the first period, and Akira Schmid came on in relief. It would not be the only goalie change of the day — not even close.
A Chaotic Second Period — and the Moment That Mattered Most
The second period was where this game went a little sideways, in every sense.
Sam Reinhart, who spent the period reminding Buffalo fans exactly how dangerous he still is, tied it 2-2 at 6:26 with a power-play goal. Buffalo answered at 11:25, when Ryan McLeod scored to make it 3-2, with Olen Zellweger earning an assist. Reinhart struck again at 13:41 — his second power-play goal of the game — to tie it 3-3. Two goals for Reinhart, both on the power play, is a stat line that tells you Florida's special teams came to play even on an afternoon when a lot else wobbled.
Buffalo's crease had its own drama. Colton Ellis, who started for the Sabres, allowed two goals on nine shots and was pulled in the second period. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen came on in relief and finished with 13 saves, steadying a game that could easily have slipped away in the chaos. Credit where it's due: relief goalies entering cold in a tied game do an underappreciated job, and Luukkonen did it well enough for Buffalo to win the third period outright.
And then, the moment that will lead every conversation about this game in Buffalo tonight: Dahlin left in the second period with an upper-body injury.
There is no sugarcoating what Dahlin means to this team. He is their No. 1 defenseman, their power-play quarterback — you just saw the slap shot — and the player whose minutes and matchups shape everything Buffalo tries to do against top opponents. An upper-body injury, with no further detail available in the immediate aftermath, is exactly the kind of vague, worrying update that leaves a fan base refreshing their phones all evening. We will not speculate on severity, because speculation helps nobody. What we can say is simple: Buffalo won this game without him for more than half of it, which is impressive, and Buffalo needs him healthy far more than it needed these two points in October, which is obvious.
For continuing coverage as updates arrive, keep an eye on our Sports desk.
The Third Period Belonged to Buffalo
Whatever was said in the Buffalo room during the second intermission worked, because the Sabres owned the final frame, 2-0.
Noah Ostlund scored a power-play goal to put Buffalo ahead 4-3, breaking the last tie of the afternoon and rewarding a Sabres power play that had already produced Dahlin's goal in the first. Two power-play goals in a one-goal game is often the whole story, and on another day it might have been this game's story too.
Instead, the sealer belonged to Tage Thompson. With 6:40 left, Thompson scored through traffic to make it 5-3, finishing an afternoon that gave him a goal and an assist. There is a particular thrill in a big forward scoring through a crowd late in a game — the puck disappearing into bodies and sticks and then reappearing in the net — and Thompson's goal removed any real doubt about the result. Florida pushed, as Florida does, but Luukkonen and the Sabres closed the door.
The Supporting Cast Showed Up
Look past the headline scorers and this was a genuinely encouraging team win for Buffalo. Jack Quinn, Owen Power, and Peyton Krebs each recorded two assists. That is six assists spread across three players a contending version of the Sabres absolutely needs producing, and Krebs in particular had a hand in setting the tone early with that give-and-go on Doan's opener.
For Florida, Seth Jones picked up two assists, and Reinhart's two power-play goals kept the Panthers in a game where their goaltending never settled. Schmid made 18 saves in relief after Markstrom's early exit, respectable work in a losing cause, but a team that pulls its starter after one period and still concedes five is going to spend its video session talking about coverage as much as crease play.
Both starters pulled in the same game — Ellis for Buffalo, Markstrom for Florida — is a rarity worth naming. This was a goalie story inside a scoring story inside an injury story, which is a very hockey way for a Monday afternoon to unfold.
Previously Staff’s read: Buffalo should enjoy this. Five goals, contributions up and down the lineup, a third period closed like a mature team, and a win over a Panthers side that does not give afternoons away. If the Sabres are going to be a serious team this season, these are precisely the messy, resilient wins they have to collect.
But let's be real with each other: the first question in Buffalo tonight is not about the standings. It's about Rasmus Dahlin. The win counts for two points. Dahlin counts for a whole lot more than that. The Sabres proved on Monday they can survive a game without him. The season is a different question — and everyone in that building knows it.
Follow the fallout and the rest of the NHL slate on our Sports front and the Previously news front.
