Lundell Scores Shootout Winner, Panthers Win Third Straight Game

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers continue to pick up steam as the Stanley Cup Playoffs approach.

Despite missing a handful of star players on Saturday night — including Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart (rest) — the Panthers took down the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 thanks to Anton Lundell’s shootout winner.

The Panthers have won three consecutive games after losing the previous five.

In just his sixth start for the Panthers, Vitek Vanecek stopped 26 of 28 shots and shut the door on all three Sabres in the shootout for his second win with Florida.

“The extra point is really important,” Vanecek said. “I didn’t win a couple of games so I’m really happy I got this one, I hope I keep going like that.”

Following the victory, the Panthers improved to 47-29-4 on the season and have now equalled the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 98 points (Tampa has played one fewer game and still owns the tiebreaker).

Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring for the Panthers, picking up his second goal in as many games after going 13 straight contests without getting on the board. Verhaeghe finished with two points on the night (1-1-2).

“It gets frustrating sometimes if you’re kind of trying to do the right thing and they don’t fall,” Verhaeghe said when asked about snapping his previous scoring slump. “It definitely feels good to get one. Just seeing it visually go in the back of the net is kind of nice.”

Jesse Puljujarvi also scored for the Panthers, getting his first goal with the team at the 14:47 mark of the second period.

“He’s a very interesting player,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of Puljujarvi post game.“He’s big. Clearly is not afraid to hit — he’s had a whole bunch of them, but not running around for it, he’s playing the game as well.

“There’s some offensive instinct in him. We believe that there’s an impactful player there.”

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had 32 saves while Rasmus Dahlin and JJ Peterka both scored for the Sabres, who fell to 35-37-7 in the loss.

With two games left in the regular season, the Panthers currently sit third in the Atlantic Division with their final two games coming against the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning — who is second in the Atlantic.

If the standings were to hold, the Panthers and Lightning would face each other in the first-round, with the series starting in Tampa.

PANTHERS NOTES

Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart (rest) both got the night off.

Sam Bennett (upper-body) also didn’t play on Saturday.

Uvis Balinskis played in his 100th career NHL game and picked up the primary assist on Puljujarvi’s goal.